Spoiler Warning for Episode 1 of ‘Lanterns’
The series premiere for HBO’s Lanterns is finally here. After receiving rave reviews, the first episode of the HBO original series introduced audiences to the world of the DCU’s Hal Jordan, played by Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler, and John Stewart, played by Rebel Ridge and Mufasa: The Lion King star Aaron Pierre. Lanterns focuses on their strained relationship, with Hal ordered by the Guardians who created the Green Lantern Corps to train John to become a new Green Lantern for Earth. Using a dual timeline narrative akin to True Detective, the DC show explores a dark mystery in Rushville, Nebraska, that may have intergalactic repercussions.
For many fans of DC Comics and Green Lantern specifically, getting a new version of Hal Jordan has been a long time coming. Aside from one failed film adaptation starring Ryan Reynolds and several animated projects, there hasn’t been a live-action version of one of the most popular characters to ever wear the ring. Kyle Chandler brings a chaotic bravado to the character, portraying a Hal who has been the Green Lantern of Earth for 30 years. DiscussingFilm sat down with Lanterns co-creators Damon Lindelof and Tom King to dive into the show’s pilot episode, particularly its shocking ending.
Now that he’s finally part of an interconnected universe, Hal dies in the first episode of the television series he stars in. A timeskip from 2016 to 2026 is shown at the end of the pilot, where an older John Stewart finds Hal’s frozen dead body sitting in the football bleachers of a crime scene from earlier in the episode. “We want audiences to feel sad, and we want them to feel mad, and we want them to feel confused,” Lindelof tells me when I ask him how he expects audiences to react. “Because those are the feelings that people have when someone they care about dies.”
Courtesy of HBO
No Easy Way Out: Why Hal Jordan Couldn’t Just “Retire to Florida”
Comic-book movies and television shows, especially with long-running interconnected stories like the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), can oftentimes make their characters feel static. Damon Lindelof, famously known for co-creating ABC’s Lost and two other notable HBO shows, The Leftovers and Watchmen, calls it a “sort of sense of the reset.” As he explains, “The feeling that you invest eight hours of your life watching a limited series and it feels like, yeah, the characters went on a great adventure and maybe they’ve learned a lesson along the way, but nothing has really changed.” With Hal’s death, the creative team behind Lanterns want the DC series to feel like “a necessary part of John Stewart’s launch forwards.”
Damon Lindelof: “If the premise of the show is saying, ‘Only one of these guys can have the ring,’ as a fan watching it without being someone who was making it, I would be like, ‘They’re going to find a way to have two rings, or they’re going to end around, or there’s going to be a big hug at the end and Hal’s going to say he’s going to retire to Florida.’ But every time we talked about that, we were like, ‘Hal Jordan ain’t retiring to Florida.’”
Hal Jordan’s Own Warning in ‘Lanterns’ Comes Back to Haunt John Stewart
Hal Jordan’s death seems like it was part of the initial pitch for the series. As Damon Lindelof followed the train of thought of subverting the preconceived notions of a comic-book show, he found ways to sow the seeds through Hal’s lines that retroactively become ironic after that shocking ending. “Wouldn’t it be interesting if when he says to John, ‘The only way that you’re going to get this ring is you’re prying it from my cold, dead hand?’ This is the sort of implication!” Lindelof teases how this unexpected death will reverberate throughout the series: “What would it feel like for John for that actually to happen?”
Courtesy of HBO
Looking back at their True Detective inspirations, Lindelof recalls wanting the victim at the heart of the cosmic mystery to be someone who matters to the audience. He even argued with his co-creator Tom King, the Eisner Award-winning comic writer behind the iconic Woman of Tomorrow storyline that inspired the DCU’s Supergirl, about whether it was right to kill Hal Jordan. A massive creative choice like this is expected to reverberate throughout the entire DCU moving forward.
Damon Lindelof: “I think another one of the tropes of the rural mystery show is that we don’t really care that much about the victims. I can’t even tell you the name of the dead girl in True Detective, even though it’s one of my favorite television shows of all time. As we began to group together, the idea became: who gets murdered? We kept coming back to the idea of, like, what if it’s one of them [Hal or John]? We were never going to kill John Stewart. Thus, oh my God, what would happen if we killed Hal? Does it feel like a gimmick? Does it feel like it’s exploitative?”
Damon Lindelof and Tom King Choose Emotional Stakes Over Creative Safety
The creative duo anticipates online discourse. “The fans are going to hate us,” Damon Lindelof says with a little unease. “There were all these reasons not to do it, but the story kept pushing us to do it anyway, especially since we really wanted to serve the emotional stakes of their relationship.” Given Lindelof’s impressive TV track record, it’s hard to doubt him. To their credit, it seems like he and Tom King have both genuinely thought through the controversial decision.
Damon Lindelof: “There’s going to be some short-term anger and dissatisfaction, understandably. People have waited over a decade for Hal Jordan to return to their screens, and then, suddenly, he’s a frozen corpse. But what matters most is where they’re sitting at the end of the eighth episode and whether they felt it was a necessary turn for the story to move forward.”
‘Lanterns’ Episode 1 is a Clear Statement of Intent
Given that DC Studios is still in the early stages of its interconnected universe, it’s also understandable why Tom King wants every project to be critical to franchises that can become easily over-saturated. Almost as if he were referencing the lengthy Disney+ library of Marvel Television that seemingly bears no weight on the MCU at large, the writer wanted casual viewers and diehard DC fans alike to know that Lanterns would have an impact, even if it meant killing Hal.
Tom King: “I think you can watch sometimes superhero content on the small screen and be like, ‘Does this matter? Am I just watching filler between two movies, and what I’m really in for is the movie?’ We very much want to declare, and [DC Studios Co-Chairs] James [Gunn] and Peter [Safran] very much want to declare that, ‘Yes, this matters. This is important.’ Having Hal’s death at the end of the pilot was sort of the promise we’re trying to fulfill. This is not just a waystop. This is the place to be.”
As we wrap up our conversation, Lindelof makes a joke about possible fan backlash and King’s closing comments: “Yeah, let’s blame James and Peter. If you like it, it was our idea. But if you don’t like it, it was James and Peter’s idea.” King, ever the generous creative partner, covers Lindelof’s tracks: “We didn’t say their last names. That could be any James and Peter.” Perhaps a sign of how well they work together, Lindelof joins in: “Yeah, any James and Peter.”
New Episodes of ‘Lanterns’ debut every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max!
Created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, & Tom King.
Based on characters from DC Comics.
Showrunner: Chris Mundy.
Season 1 Writers: Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, Tom King, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Justin Britt-Gibson, & Breannah Gibson.
Executive Producers: James Gunn, Peter Safran, Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, Tom King, Ron Schmidt, & James Hawes.
Main Cast: Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, Nathan Fillion, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Ulrich Thomsen, Nicole Ari Parker, Jason Ritter, Sherman Augustus, Paul Ben-Victor, & Laura Linney.
Composer: Stephanie Economou.
Production Companies: DC Studios & Warner Bros. Television.
Network: HBO & HBO Max.
Episode Count: 8 (Season One).
