Deadline reports Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen (Banshee, The New Pope) will portray Thaal Sinestro on HBO’s upcoming Green Lantern series Lanterns. Thomsen, 61, will become the second actor to play the stalwart DC Comics villain in modern live-action media, following Mark Strong in the failed Green Lantern movie from 2011. His casting opens the door for him to reprise the role in subsequent projects in DC Studios’s new universe, which kicked off last month with Max’s animated series Creature Commandos.
Introduced by John Broome and Gil Kane in 1961’s Green Lantern #7, Sinestro has long been considered the archenemy of the GL Corps, but his presence on the series had been an uncertainty until now. The official description for Thomsen’s take states that, unlike Strong’s version, we will meet Sinestro as a despotic Green-turned-Yellow Lantern, who is “obsess[ed] with his former mentee, Hal Jordan” (played on the show by Kyle Chandler.) It also emphasizes the character as being “manipulative,” and “ruthless, yet undeniably charming.”
That said, fans should temper their expectations for an appearance from Sinestro’s own eponymous Corps, with the plot set to follow Jordan and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) as they investigate a murder in the American heartland on Earth. As well as the aforementioned title characters, the show will also feature Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire) as Sheriff Kerry, Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood) as cowboy William Macon, and Poorna Jagannathan (Never Have I Ever) as John’s love interest, Zoe.
Created by Chris Mundy, Tom King, and Damon Lindelof, Lanterns will begin filming next month, for an intended premiere on HBO and Max around the same time as Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (due out in theaters June 26, 2026.) In the meantime, James Gunn‘s Superman movie will introduce another live-action Lantern — Nathan Fillion‘s Guy Gardner — when it releases in theaters on July 11, 2025.
