Note: This story contains spoilers for “Lanterns” Episode 4.
Two weeks after audiences got their first proper introduction to Thaal Sinestro in the DCU, “Lanterns” came back with a full scene showing the relationship between Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and his mentor-turned-enemy. Many fans of the DC hero will probably want to see more of his most iconic villain.
Sinestro actor Ulrich Thomsen does too.
“I’m ready to dig in,” Thomsen told TheWrap at the “Lanterns” premiere. “It’s a great world. It’s a great take on the Lanterns, I think. Bring it on. I’m ready.”
Sinestro is one of the most significant villains in DC Comics. Introduced in John Broome and Gil Kane’s 1961 comic “Green Lantern #7” in a story called “The Day 100,000 People Vanished,” Sinestro is a fallen Lantern banished to the anti-matter dimension by the Guardians of the Universe. There, he contracts the Qwardian Weaponers to build him a yellow power ring capable of overpowering Green Lanterns.
But post-“Crisis on Infinite Earths” iterations began giving the character a deeper backstory, with “Emerald Dawn II” by Jim Owsley and M.D. Bright establishing the idea that Sinestro actually trained Hal as a Green Lantern, as is the case in “Lanterns.” In the comics, Hal stopped Sinestro after he discovered that the pink-skinned alien used his abilities as Green Lantern to rule over his planet as a dictator; In “Lanterns,” it’s simply said that Sinestro killed a Guardian in an attempted coup, landing him in prison.
“I read the scripts and I read about him, Sinestro. I didn’t know so much about it, and I look at him, and I go, wow,” Thomsen laughed. “That guy would sell himself, the way he looks and all that.”
It’s in that prison that audiences are introduced to Thomsen’s Sinestro, first at the end of “Lanterns” Episode 2 and primarily at the beginning of Episode 4. There, Hal approaches his old mentor in a Hannibal Lector-like fashion, asking him what he knows about Manhunters as one threatens Rushville, NE. Sinestro, meanwhile, questions Hal about John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), his backup Lantern whom they both know is really being groomed by the Guardians to be Hal’s replacement.
This scene lands on a fundamental aspect of Hal and Sinestro’s relationship — that, as loath as Hal is to admit it, they are still, on some level, friends. Sinestro fills a void in Hal left behind by his father, becoming a teacher and mentor when Hal had nobody. This relationship no doubt contributes to the Guardians’ belief that Hal needs to be replaced, lest they have another coup on their hands.
“Were we ever truly friends?” Hal asks Sinestro toward the end Geoff Johns’ iconic run on the characters.
“That’s the tragedy of all of this, Jordan. Hal,” Sinestro responds. “We’ll always be friends.”
“It’s inherent in the scenes, I thought,” Thomsen said of Hal and Sinestro’s friendship. “It’s just great drama, you know? You have your best of enemies, right, and that’s always fun. But in order to play that, it should be in the scenes. Otherwise it would be difficult. But it was well written that way.”
Of course, unlike Aaron Pierre and John Stewart, Thomsen isn’t the first actor to take on Sinestro in live action. Mark Strong previously took on the role in the Ryan Reynolds “Green Lantern” movie (one of the more celebrated parts of that movie), which largely drew from Johns’ comics. Though Thomsen praised Strong’s work with the character, he noted that “Lanterns” takes the same grounded approach to Sinestro as it does to the rest of the DC world.
“I quite like that, but this is a different approach,” Thomsen said of Strong’s turn. “This is a little, when I say ‘Normal,’ I don’t mean it — this is a little more human. But I tend not to look too much on other things that have been done. It just confuses me. I’m arrogant enough just to trust my instincts and talk to the directors and showrunners and stuff like that.”
Of course, taking on this baddie required a fair bit of time in the makeup chair. While most of “Lanterns’” aliens take on human forms, Thomsen is given a largely comic-accurate look for Sinestro, adopting the character’s pink skin, iconic mustache and sharp black brows.
“It was a lot of time in the makeup. Like, three or four hours … the first time there was a camera test, so it was a little too pink, then back in makeup and over again and then their color schemes, so there was a little back and forth before they hit the right color.”
But Sinestro has a massive place in the DC Universe, a character with numerous stories to be told. As John Stewart prepares to jump to the big screen in “Man of Tomorrow,” Thomsen said he would be willing to sit in the makeup chair again to reprise the role.
“There’s so much more to explore, who he is. I mean just the name — Sinestro — right?” he said. “I’m ready to get in there, man, for sure.”
“Lanterns” airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
