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Lanterns

TV SERIES · 2026–present · USA

Lanterns

Created by
Damon Lindelof, Tom King, Chris Mundy
Network
HBO
Seasons
1
Episodes
8
Studio
DC Studios, HBO, Warner Bros. Television

24 archived facts 6 topics 4 sources Last reviewed Oct 2026

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

  • Lanterns — production image

24 Interesting Facts About Lanterns

Interesting Facts (4)

  1. #001

    A Green Lantern film was announced as part of the DC Extended Universe's original lineup in 2014, with an eyed 2020 release. The film was titled "Green Lantern Corps," and was to center on several Lanterns, with Hal Jordan and John Stewart being the central characters. David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes were hired to write the script, based on a story by Goyer and Geoff Johns, known for his acclaimed work on Green Lantern comics in the 2000s. The film remained in development hell for years, and was ultimately scrapped along with the overall DCEU in 2023.

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  2. #002

    Official song in the trailer is a version of Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper", first included in his sixth studio album, "Nebraska" (1982).

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  3. #003

    True Detective and Slow Horses were the models for the show's detective storytelling.

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  4. #004

    Nathan Fillion plays Guy Gardner in the series and says this version of the character is more on edge than the one introduced in the 2025 film Superman.

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Production Story (7)

  1. #005

    DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn said the show would be darker than other DCU projects, pointing to HBO's True Detective (2014) as an influence, and that it would sit closer to the Absolute line than to the regular Earth-1 DC Universe.

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  2. #006

    Damon Lindelof was convinced Kyle Chandler was right for Hal Jordan: "He's got the gruff energy, the cynicism, also the nobility, the humor. He's the entire package." He also assumed Chandler would say no: "He hasn't done superhero stuff or this kind of genre stuff before. We're never going to get that guy." Chandler was indeed wary at first and asked his wife and daughter to read the script with him. They talked him into it: "When we finished, they both literally, at the same time, jumped up off the couch and pointed at me and said, 'You have to do this.'"

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  3. #007

    Neal Adams, who co-created John Stewart, admitted he made up the name on the spot when DC editor Julius Schwartz pressed him for one. Years later he joked, "How would I know he'd become a late-night comedian?"

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  4. #008

    In January 2023, HBO Max said it had shelved the Greg Berlanti-produced Green Lantern series to concentrate on Lanterns, the show announced by James Gunn and Peter Safran. Berlanti's version, first announced in 2019, was pitched as spanning "several decades" and focusing "on the origin stories of two major Green Lanterns on Earth," with Sinestro as a villain; in late 2022 it was narrowed to John Stewart alone. Gunn and Safran's show features both Stewart and Hal Jordan. Gunn called it "more of a True Detective (2014)-type mystery. A terrestrial-based mystery that leads into the overall story that we're telling throughout the different movies and television shows [in the DC Universe]. We find this ancient horror on Earth, and these guys are basically super-cops on 'Precinct Earth.'"

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  5. #009

    Safran said Lanterns would be an Earth-bound detective story rather than the space opera Berlanti had imagined, calling it an "HBO-quality event" in the vein of True Detective and Slow Horses.

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  6. #010

    Tom King drew on his years as a CIA counterterrorism officer in writing Lanterns, and the scripts were done by the time filming began in February 2025.

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  7. #011

    Chris Mundy wanted a grounded take on the Green Lantern mythology, turning the source material into a layered, human HBO drama that newcomers could follow and longtime fans would enjoy; in season one, he said, Jordan and Stewart pull in opposite directions.

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Behind the Scenes (2)

  1. #012

    The Power Ring and Power Battery Hal Jordan uses were created for the series by concept artist Ed Natividad; property master Jeffrey Paul Johnson handled the physical builds.

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  2. #013

    Hal Jordan's practical Green Lantern suit was made for the series by costume designer Cynthia Ann Summers rather than taken from a DC Comics design.

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Characters & Cast (4)

  1. #014

    It was Justice League Unlimited (2004) that introduced Aaron Pierre to Green Lantern; he never saw Green Lantern (2011), the Ryan Reynolds film.

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  2. #015

    Here Hal Jordan serves as John Stewart's mentor, and Kyle Chandler (Hal) has almost thirty years on Aaron Pierre (John). In the comics, Stewart first appeared as Hal's backup.

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  3. #016

    The earlier Green Lantern series couldn't use Hal Jordan or John Stewart, the best-known comic book Lanterns, because they were reserved for DC Extended Universe films. It planned to feature others instead, such as Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Alan Scott, Kilowog and characters invented for the show.

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  4. #017

    Chris Mundy said Guy Gardner would turn up at a few different points in Lanterns, describing him as fabulously obnoxious.

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Easter Eggs & References (6)

  1. #018

    The emblem on the show's Green Lantern suit isn't the 1959 original but the stylized version Daniel Gelon drew for Green Lantern Vol. 4 (July 2005).

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  2. #019

    The Hal Jordan–John Stewart dynamic is a tribute to Lethal Weapon (1987), turned on its head: Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) was the by-the-book veteran and Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) the unorthodox younger cop, while here Jordan is the unorthodox veteran and Stewart the by-the-book newcomer.

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  3. #020

    The sign at the entrance to Macon Ranch reads "study the past," a nod to a saying attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius (5th century BC). The full line is "study the past if you would define the future."

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  4. #021

    In the trailer, Hal mentions that one of the other Green Lanterns is a squirrel. That's Ch'p, the Lantern of sector 1014, whose species looks like squirrels.

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  5. #022
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    In the second episode, a guard shoots Jordan for walking onto Macon's property and the sheriff says they were within their rights. Under Nebraska law, though, deadly force can't be used for trespassing alone, so the guard's shot would have been illegal.

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  6. #023

    Gunn said Lanterns would feature the interdimensional prison Salvation and the organization Checkmate, both introduced in the season two finale of Peacemaker (2025), and would play a big part in setting up the wider DCU.

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Deeper Meaning (1)

  1. #024

    Lanterns runs on two timelines: one in 2016, built around a murder in Rushville, Nebraska, that Jordan believes is extraterrestrial, and a second, linked to that killing, in 2026.

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Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

  • Wikipedia English Wikipedia article
  • IMDb IMDb title page (trivia)

Sources for the entries on this page

  1. Wikipedia Wikipedia (EN)Database · accessed 13 Sep 2026
  2. Wikipedia Lanterns (TV series) — WikipediaEncyclopedia · accessed 18 Sep 2026

Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work