'Lanterns' Massive Time-Jump Twist Is a Game-Changer for HBO's DC Series | Review

Image via HBO Published Aug 16, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain, was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family. Sign in to your Collider account What do you first think of when you hear the name "Green Lantern"? Is it the power ring and the colorful suit? Maybe it's Phil LaMarr's John Stewart from the Justice League animated series, or the previous live-action movie attempt with Ryan Reynolds? Whatever your expectations are, it's probably best to stifle them for the time being. Lanterns is what happens when HBO adapts a fantastical DC character. Rather than the usual intergalactic adventures, the series is a slow-burn take on the Green Lantern mythos that has been aptly described as akin to both True Detective and Training Day, with longtime superhero Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) showing newcomer John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) the ropes. It's an oddball take, to be sure, but there's certainly potential. 'Lanterns' Episode 1 Begins With a Call to Fearlessness Lanterns' first episode — penned by creators Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King — begins not in the present, but 30 years ago in 1996. While waiting for their father to get home, a young John Stewart (Cairo Cash Lee) and his brothers watch as Green Lantern, a former test pilot and veteran named Hal Jordan, is interviewed on 60 Minutes. The segment reveals that Hal is Earth's first Green Lantern, chosen because he has no fear. (How all of this works in relation to Superman, since Lanterns supposedly takes place in the DC Universe, is still a mystery.) When John's father (J. Alphonse Nicholson) arrives home, his brothers scatter. John Sr. then takes his youngest son outside, grabs an apple, and shoots it off the boy's head — the whole time, young John remains as cool as can be. “Are you afraid?” his father asks. “No, sir,” John replies. Talk about a complicated upbringing. Two decades later, Lanterns picks back up with John in 2016, when he meets with Hal — who is both late and hungover after achieving peace on a nearby alien world — for some training. The pair have only been at this for two months, but it's clear that there's frustration between them. Hal can't seem to take anything seriously, and John can't help but take everything that way. Still, the latter deals with his mentor's belligerence, which today results in Hal jumping out of a moving car and sending John (armed only with the power ring) straight off a cliff. Not exactly the world's most gracious teacher. John survives the wreck by making bubble wrap with the ring and immediately calls his father. "Just stay the course, and this job is yours," John Sr. reminds his son, which also makes us curious about the dynamic between these two. While heading toward Hal's favorite taco stand, John is met by what he later deems a "Halogram" — a backup of Hal's consciousness attached to the ring, also played by Chandler. This backup, from 2006, is what the Halogram compares to the "Cloud," which wasn't really a thing until a year or two later, but we'll let it slide. In any event, the Halogram reveals that the Green Lanterns are supposed to back up their consciousness more regularly than Hal has been, which is curious in itself, but also divulges something else to John: “There’s hail in Rushville, Nebraska.” When the trainee reunites the ring with its owner, he passes on the strange phrase, and Hal takes off into the sky without a moment to lose. Six hours later, John arrives in Rushville himself to find police scattered around the high school football field where a shooting has taken place. Enter: local sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald). Although she's already informed Hal that he has no jurisdiction (since there are no aliens present), Hal strongly believes he'll be taking over the case soon enough. Despite the sheriff's warnings to stay away, neither Lantern can do it: Hal due to his stubbornness, and John because of an unspoken desire to prove himself. Of course, Hal sees the ambition in John's eyes through that tough and silent exterior. “This is my job, and as long as I'm alive, that ain't changing,” the veteran Green Lantern reminds him. Hal Jordan Has No Trouble Breaking the Rules in 'Lanterns' Episode 1 It isn't long before John notices something that Hal already clocked before he arrived: one of the bystanders is not like the others. A man in short sleeves — having ditched his warm clothes when everyone else can see their breath — stands by with the other locals, trying to blend in. John wishes to defer to Kerry's chain of command and goes to tell the sheriff, only to find she already knows. Unfortunately, John has drawn attention to himself, spooking the suspect in the process. A chase through the school gym ensues before John knocks the suspect to the ground and Kerry arrests him — refusing to allow Hal an interrogation. Seemingly defeated, Hal decides the best thing to do next is to get a drink, and from what little we know about the space cop at this point, that seems on brand. At a local bar, John inquires about how Hal got the ring in the first place, believing that the Green Lantern ought to have proven himself rather than the whole thing being up to chance. Hal tells him that he was abducted from his bed by a green bubble before a voice asked if he was afraid. When he responded in the affirmative, the bubble shot him to rural Nebraska, where he met his dying predecessor. Anyone familiar with the Green Lantern mythos could probably tell you the rest. The alien, named Abin Sur, gave him his power ring and inducted him into the Green Lantern Corps. His last words were either “good luck”... or something a bit more colorful. It's here that Hal expresses his belief that the Guardians never wanted anyone coming near Earth, which is why he thinks Abin Sur's crash was intentional — and why he set up the “Halogram” in the first place, keeping tabs on the same place that the sector's last Green Lantern died. All of this is a preamble to the real reason Hal picked this particular bar, though. After paying to play "Brand New Key" by Melanie on the jukebox three times in a row, he picks a fight with a few locals to purposefully get himself thrown in jail, hoping to interrogate the suspect while there. After Hal leaves John behind with the ring, the trainee starts talking with a local woman (Poorna Jagannathan) about his potential as a Green Lantern. Although Earth only gets one Green Lantern at a time, John insists that he's only being trained as a backup. It isn't long before Kerry arrives to take Hal into custody, and afterward, John sleeps with the woman from the bar. The next day, John arrives to pick up Hal at the police station, but the Lantern's whole operation was a bust. Suspecting his true intentions, Kerry locked him in the broom closet so he couldn't speak to the witness. As Hal is arraigned, his lawyer, Billy Macon (Jason Ritter), arrives and settles his bail on behalf of his father, William (Garret Dillahunt), who invites the Lantern to his ranch for dinner that evening. Oh, and Billy just so happens to be Kerry's husband. Hours later, Hal and John arrive at the Macons' ranch. The whole thing is like a cross between Yellowstone's Dutton Ranch (though without a breathtaking mountain backdrop) and a militia compound, full of armed guards and plenty of mysterious buildings. There's no telling what Macon has hidden on the premises. It isn't long before the pair join up with Bill and Kerry, who introduce their son Noah (Cary Christopher). After Hal offers Kerry a beer, she warns him that her father-in-law is not the sort of man they want to owe. Upon meeting said father-in-law, William, he reveals to the Lanterns that he's only a caretaker for the property and can't identify his employer due to an NDA. As it turns out, William bailed Hal out because of his belief that aliens will one day eradicate mankind from Earth, just like the Native Americans were removed from this land before them. 'Lanterns' Episode 1 Wraps Up With a Flash-Forward to a Darker Fate Image via HBO As Hal mingles with Macon, John finds young Noah throwing a football. He teaches the boy how to aim (by not aiming, really), and it's here that he learns that the boy's grandmother (and Macon's wife), Zoe, is the same woman he slept with the night before. However, Macon seems to know all about his wife's extramarital affairs, hinting at it in his farewell to John and Hal. Their meeting, however, as well as an exchange between Macon and his daughter-in-law, helps secure Hal an interview with the suspect. What that particular conversation involved, we have no idea, but as Hal observed earlier, she appears to be a woman stuck in a debt of some kind... The next morning, Hal and John arrive at the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Department to speak with the suspect, a truck driver named Waylon Sanders (Chris Coy). Although Kerry insists that Waylon is human, John tells her that there are currently 14 different alien species out there that can pass as human. (A fact Hal probably told him on Day 1.) In the interrogation room, Hal quizzes Waylon on some classic Nebraska football trivia, which he passes without a problem, almost as if he's memorized a Wikipedia entry on the subject. When Hal switches gears to pop culture with Harry Potter, however, Waylon can’t answer a simple question about Hogwarts. After a few more questions, Waylon switches gears and all but confirms that he's an alien, noting that his intentions were meant to be hidden from the Green Lantern Corps. The alien tells Hal that he has a bomb attached to his skeleton that he can activate with a thought — and then does so. The explosion rocks the sheriff's station, though Hal contains the blast with his power ring, having proved that this is an alien-related crime after all. Here's where Lanterns gets especially interesting. The episode jumps forward to 2026, where a ringless John arrives in Rushville in the dead of winter. The Macons' ranch has been decimated, which is curious. Under the cover of darkness, John reunites with Kerry, who's still the sheriff, outside the football stadium. She takes him up to the same bleachers where they observed that crime scene a decade ago. Sitting there, covered in snow, is a bloody (and dead) Hal Jordan — and it doesn't seem like he's been dead for very long. John looks for the power ring on his mentor's hand, but it's already gone. New episodes of Lanterns air Sundays on HBO. Release Date August 16, 2026 Network HBO Showrunner Chris Mundy Directors James Hawes Writers Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof Cast Aaron Pierre John Stewart Pros & Cons Kyle Chandler was pretty perfectly cast as Hal Jordan. The Hal and John dynamic is interesting as is, though I hope it lightens up a bit. A small-town alien mystery with DC superheroes? I'm in. A Green Lantern show really shouldn't be ashamed of its aliens, even if they're supposed to be in hiding. The studio that made Superman should have no problem doing a Green Lantern series that feels, well, a bit more like Green Lantern. Just because the movie was bad doesn't mean the concept is!