Nathan Fillion has a theory about why audiences forgive Guy Gardner for being, in his own words, not very likable and it has everything to do with that bowl cut. The actor recently discussed playing Guy Gardner, the wisecracking Green Lantern he portrays in HBO’s Lanterns.
Nathan Fillion on Guy Gardner’s bowl-cut hair and DCU origin
Asked whether he had any input into Guy Gardner’s style, “from the hair to the uniform to the ring,” Fillion revealed the bowl cut almost didn’t happen. “There were some concepts of different hairstyles,” he said. “James wasn’t convinced that people would buy the bowl cut. So, there were some other hairstyles thrown around.”
Fillion, however, was firmly in favor of the look. “I was all about the bowl cut,” he said. “I simply said, ‘If we don’t do this, we’ll never hear the end of it. This is all we’re going to talk about. This will upstage everything we do with this character if we don’t do a bowl cut. So, let’s just do it and get it over with, and then it’s in the rearview mirror.’”
He called it his personal vote and said he’s grateful it went that way. For Fillion, the hairstyle does more than just nod to the comics: it softens the character. “I think what’s important about Guy Gardner is that we know he’s not very likable, but at the same time he’s very easy to judge,” he said. “Guy Gardner’s hair is much like Superman’s underpants on the outside of his costume. It makes him harmless. It makes him more palatable,” the actor continued.
On the subject of a potential Guy Gardner origin story, Fillion was more guarded. He explained that he’s already built a version of the character’s backstory in his own head, piecing together elements from decades of comics and carrying them from the live-action film into Lanterns and beyond.
However, committing to an official on-screen origin carries risk, he said, since it might not match what he’s already imagined. “I would have built this on a platform that doesn’t exist,” he said. “So, there’s a danger there.”
