What are they doing with John Diggle? When Arrow ended two years ago, it was suggested—very strongly—that Diggle (David Ramsey), Oliver Queen’s bodyguard turned buddy, found a Green Lantern ring. The hints continued with Diggle’s appearances on the other Arrowverse shows, but the whole thing went a little bit sideways when, on Supergirl, Diggle seemed to say that maybe he’d turned the hero thing down in order to stay on Earth with his wife and kids. But maybe not?
Now, David Ramsey is set to star in a new Arrowverse show that’s in development at The CW: Justice U, in which Diggle would train a new generation of superheroes. But why tease the Green Lantern thing only to sideline it?
The answer might be as simple as “because now there are other Green Lanterns in the mix,” given that HBO Max has a Green Lantern series well underway (and it’s produced by Arrowverse mastermind Greg Berlanti, no less). It seems unlikely that HBO would want to make its show sync up with The CW’s superhero universe, so maybe this is just a matter of clearing the slate for that iteration—and setting Ramsey up with a new series.
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According to Variety, on Justice U, Diggle “embarks on a new mission to recruit five young meta humans to live undercover as freshmen at a prestigious university. There he will oversee their education and train them to become the heroes of tomorrow.” Should the in-development show get a pilot, Ramsey will direct (he’s been directing episodes of various Arrowverse shows for a while now). Superman and Lois executive producer Michael Narducci and former Grey’s Anatomy executive producer Zoanne Clark are on board to write Justice U, which they will also executive produce alongside the Berlanti Productions team and Geoff Johns.
A mentor role makes sense for the big-hearted Diggle, who often serves as a mentor in his many cameo appearances. He’s also got the experience, as one of the last characters standing from the show that started The CW’s entire superhero lineup. (Caity Lotz’s Sara Lance, of course, is captaining the ship over on Legends of Tomorrow.)
Ramsey appears as Diggle on next week’s episode of Batwoman, so it’s possible the Green Lantern story will find some closure then. It’s also possible his Justice U role could involve mentorship and membership in the Green Lantern Corps, though that’d be a lot to put on one man’s plate.
