Finn WIttrock has made quite a name for himself in the vast Ryan Murphy universe, including multiple roles in American Horror Story and Murphy's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest prequel, Ratched. He has now taken the plunge into an entirely new universe as he begins his journey as Guy Gardener aka Green Lantern for the new HBO Max series.

Though he has auditioned for superhero characters in the past, Finn Wittrock admits, "I've sometimes come close. Generally, not at all come close, but I've always sniffed around the edges of it." Now he's taking a crash course to get a jump on his comic book education, "This one did kind of fall from the sky. It's really exciting for me. I'm considering myself a student of the comic book universe right now."

"It is really cool how sprawling a storyline it is," Wittrock says. "It's pretty epic. It spans time and space and has something for everyone. It's not your average superhero story." Wittrock will appear as Guy Gardner, a human Green Lantern described previously by the network as "a hulking mass of masculinity" and "an embodiment of 1980s hyper-patriotism" who's "somehow likeable," in the 1984 period of the show with half-alien Lantern named Bree Jarta. The show, written and executive produced by the Arrowverse's Greg Berlanti, will move to different times and spaces around the cosmos.

The official show description reads, "Green Lantern reinvents the classic DC property through a story spanning decades and galaxies, beginning on Earth in 1941 with the very first Green Lantern, secretly gay FBI agent Alan Scott, and 1984, with cocky alpha male Guy Gardner and half-alien Bree Jarta. They'll be joined by a multitude of other Lanterns - from comic book favorites to never-before-seen heroes."

Wittrock describes Guy as quite the "polarizing figure," adding that Guy "definitely" maintains his tendency to showboat. He also says he has "a heart of gold. He takes on a lot of this show. He's a pretty big part of it," Wittrock says. "I think it's an interesting way in (to the story). It's not the conventional way in, but I think people might see a side of him they didn't know was there."

WIttrock is enjoying being out of his comfort zone and a newbie to the world of comics. "In some ways, it's almost better. I think it offers a chance to reinvent the whole thing and you're not going to have... I mean, no offense to the movie. It is what it is, but you're not going to have people who are dying for the creation of that movie. [The show] can be its own new interpretation." Being a series allows the story to breathe. "There's a lot of story there. I think maybe it was just too much to fit into a movie. We have the time and the space, thanks to HBO, to really explore a lot of it on a big scale. I think it's going to be a different animal, to be honest."

It's going to be a bit of a wait before we can see WIttrock shine as Green Lantern. Until then you can catch him in season 10, American Horror Story: Double Feature debuting Wednesday, August 25,  where he will reunite with his AHS family including Kathy Bates, Leslie Grossman, Billie Lourd, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe, Adina Porter, Angelica Ross, Kaia Gerber, and first timer Macaulay Culkin.

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