LANTERNS Casts Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro

 
Ulrich Thomsen, you have the ability to instill great fear.

Deadline has reported that the upcoming HBO series Lanterns, based on the DC Comics Green Lantern characters, has cast Ulrich Thomsen as the supervillain Sinestro. Thomsen joins Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry, Garret Dillahunt as William Macon, and Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe.

The article describes Sinestro as "a former Green Lantern who turned rogue and is described as ruthless yet undeniably charming. Sinestro’s manipulative nature drives his enduring obsession with his former mentee, Hal Jordan."

Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.

Thomsen, 61, is a Danish actor probably best known as Kai Proctor in the Cinemax series Banshee. He's appeared in the films The World Is Not Enough, Kingdom of Heaven, Hitman, and The Thing (2011). In addition, he's appeared in episodes of Alias, Fringe, The Blacklist, and The New Pope.

Created in 1961 by John Broome and Gil Kane, Sinestro first appeared in Green Lantern (vol.2) #7 as Thaal Sinestro, who was born on the planet Korugar in space sector 1417. His dedication to preserving order originally manifested in his previous career, an anthropologist specializing in the reconstruction of ancient Korugan civilizations. One day, Green Lantern Prohl Gosgotha crash-landed near him, injured and apparently dying. Prohl gave his ring to Sinestro, who barely understood what to do with it before coming under attack from the Lantern's pursuer, a Weaponer of Qward. In the end, Sinestro had to destroy the ruins he was restoring to crush the Qwardian. Afterwards, Gosgotha turned out to still be alive and asked for his ring back so he could summon help. Addicted to the ring's immense power, Sinestro let him die and convinced the Guardians that the ring chose him as Gosgotha's successor.

When Hal Jordan joined the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro, now a seasoned and respected Lantern, was assigned to be his instructor. Jordan was horrified at his new mentor's totalitarian methods, though Sinestro maintained that he was only doing what he considered necessary to protect Korugar. During his training, Jordan helped Sinestro repel an attempted invasion by the alien warlords known as the Khunds. When Jordan disobeyed orders and contacted the Lanterns for help, Sinestro's dictatorship was exposed, and he was forced to appear before the Guardians for punishment.

For using the power of the Green Lantern to instill fear rather than combat it, the Guardians banished Sinestro to the antimatter world of Qward, that universe's counterpart of the Guardians' homeworld Oa. Qward was ruled by the Weaponers of Qward, a race of warriors and scientists that hold a fierce hatred of the Guardians and all Green Lanterns. However, Sinestro quickly seized the opportunity, persuading the Weaponers that he could use his knowledge of the Corps to destroy them for good. Creating a yellow power ring for Sinestro to use, the Weaponers sent him back to the "positive matter" universe to seek revenge. Sinestro quickly became the Green Lantern Corps' most powerful nemesis, partially due to a weakness in their power rings that prevented them from directly affecting the color yellow. Despite this, skilled Green Lanterns like Jordan, Sinestro's most hated enemy, always found ways to defeat him.

Thomsen will be the third actor to portray Sinestro in live-action, after Charlie Callas in the TV special Legends of the Superheroes and Mark Strong in the 2011 film Green Lantern. 

Lanterns is expected to debut on HBO sometime in 2026.