Nathan Fillion Opens Up About Playing Green Lantern Guy Gardner

Nathan Fillion is James Gunn’s choice to play Green Lantern Guy Gardner in the DCU and the upcoming Superman movie.

The actor has always been a fan-favorite pick to play Hal Jordan and even voiced the character in DC animated projects.

Well, he won’t be Hal Jordan in the DCU but Guy Gardner who has a much different personality.

“Guy Gardner is a gold mine”

Speaking with Collider, Nathan Fillion opened up about playing Green Lantern Guy Gardner and said that’s what attracted him to the character.

“The reality is that people have flaws. We all have quirks. We all have vulnerabilities. You could have the most wonderful family, but be like, ‘Oh, my God, my dad drives me nuts. He’s got this one thing.’ Everybody’s got something, and I love to lean into those faults and flaws,” he said. “It’s what makes people real and what allows audiences to relate, because we all know what that is. We all have our own. We witness it in other people.”

Fillion added, “Guy Gardner is 90% flawed and doesn’t care. That’s one of his flaws. I think there’s a real freedom in playing that. So, for a guy who likes to play flaws and flawed people, Guy Gardner is a gold mine.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Julian Bell (@thejulianbell)

“You’re gonna be Guy Gardner”

Fillion also revealed that while he was attending the premiere party for The Suicide Squad, Gunn told him he was playing Guy Gardner. Update: Gunn cleared up confusion and said Fillion misspoke and it happened at the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 premiere.

“We were actually at the premiere party after Suicide Squad and he was in a huge crowd of people. We saw each other in the crowd and I congratulated him, ‘Oh, my God, that was amazing. It’s so great,’” revealed Fillion. “He goes, ‘Hey, did Peter [Safran] tell you what we’ve got for you next?’ I said, ‘No, he hasn’t said.’ He looked around like someone was gonna be listening. We were in a throng of people, but he leaned over and said, ‘You’re gonna be Guy Gardner.’”

Sounds like a real costume

Gunn also previously teased that Nathan Fillion won’t be wearing a CGI suit as Ryan Reynolds did in the 2011 Green Lantern movie that bombed.

“Will Guy’s suit be real, CGI or both,” questioned a fan back in December.

Gunn shot back, “I can’t remember ever having a CG suit unless it was on a CG character.”

Superman gets released on July 11, 2025 starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent and the new Man of Steel, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.

Also starring includes Isabela Merced is Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi is playing Mister Terrific; María Gabriela de Faría is playing The Engineer; Anthony Carrigan is Metamorpho; Skyler Gisondo is Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio is Eve Teschmacher, Terence Rosemore as Otis, and Wendell Pierce is Perry White. Pruitt Taylor Vince is Jonathan “Pa” Kent, and Neva Howell is playing Ma Kent.