Lanterns: Release window, plot, cast & everything we know about DC Studios’ Green Lantern show
In brightest day, in blackest night, no property shall escape DC Studios’ sight. After two hits in 2024 with Creature Commandos and The Penguin, plus a DCU-set second season of Peacemaker that’s coming in 2025, the James Gunn and Peter Safran-captained film and TV division at Warner Bros. Discovery is bringing the Green Lanterns back with a live-action show. Here’s everything we know about Lanterns.
If you’re confused about the current status of DC movies and shows following the era of the DCEU we’ve just left behind, you’re not alone. The short version is, DC Studios is starting over… for the most part. The Suicide Squad (2021) and Peacemaker season 1 (2022) are being brought into the new continuity, along with the Blue Beetle we met in 2023.
‘Elseworlds’ stories like The Batman, the spinoff series The Penguin, and animated shows like Harley Quinn will remain their own thing, but everything else is being replaced as DC looks to finally get a cohesive cinematic universe off the ground.
When it comes to the Green Lanterns’ arrival into the DCU, James Gunn’s theatrical Superman reboot will introduce Nathan Fillion (Firefly) as Guy Gardner. HBO’s Lanterns series will also introduce Hal Jordan and John Stewart as the live-action duo that fans had wished for.
It looks like the new DC universe is already crowded with otherworldly heroes and villains by the time the events of the movie happen. In fact, the animated series Creature Commandos already did a lot of heavy lifting on that front.
Looking to warm up ahead of this new age of DC movies and shows? You might want to check out DC Comics’ Superman Unlimited and explore some of the best DC games of all time, modern and old. Feel free to skip the Ryan Reynolds-led Green Lantern flick, though.
When is the Lanterns release date?
Lanterns is currently filming and will go into post-production later this year. While we don’t have a release date or specific release window yet, the powers that be at HBO and DC Studios are teasing that it could hit Max in early 2026. Stay tuned for updates.
How to watch Lanterns online
Like other HBO shows, Lanterns will be exclusively available to watch through Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streaming service on TV and other devices. You can find deals and subscription options below:
Like most streaming services, HBO Max isn’t available in every country worldwide.
Thankfully, if you happen to be out of the country when Lanterns drops (hey, you’re busy defending Sector 2814, we get it), then you can still access your Max subscription with a VPN.
Who are the Green Lanterns?
The original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, was introduced during the Golden Age by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger as a businessman with a magic power ring that created energy constructs, but it was the Silver Age sci-fi reboot iteration of the Lanterns that stuck. The Green Lanterns are an intergalactic peacekeeping force overseen by the extraterrestrial Guardians of the Universe residing on the planet Oa. This updated version of the mythology debuted alongside test pilot Hal Jordan in 1959.
Jordan has traditionally been the most famous Green Lantern from Earth, becoming a founding member of the Justice League on Earth-One and going on to work alongside other human members of the Green Lantern Corps. John Stewart and Guy Gardner are considered to be the most famous ones after Jordan in Sector 2814, the chunk of space where Earth is located.
Lanterns get their abilities from their iconic power rings that allow chosen individuals to channel their willpower into energy constructs. The rings themselves are recharged by ‘Green Lantern batteries’. Other powers include the ability the travel through space (with its vacuum being a non-issue) and creating a protective (and stylish) suit. Needless to say, the Green Lantern Corps have faced many trials and tribulations over the decades and regardless of the DC continuity.
What is the plot of Lanterns?
We don’t know much about the plot of Lanterns yet, but it’s been described in the past as a murder mystery story largely set in Nebraska, with Hal Jordan now introduced as a “seasoned Lantern approaching retirement” who is training John Stewart, a veteran U.S. Marine, to be his replacement.
This “prestige pulp detective show” is said to lead these two characters into “darker mysteries as well as reckonings.” By and large, it appears the main goal behind the eight-episode series is to tell a grounded story set within a large and epic sci-fi mythology that’s crucial to the larger DC universe inside and outside the pages.
Though we haven’t heard anything about the first crossover event of the refreshed DCU continuity, Chapter One: Gods and Monsters is looking rather ambitious, so we’re fully expecting Lanterns to tie into what Gunn and co. are doing elsewhere, especially when Guy Gardner will be an important secondary character in the new Superman movie.
Lanterns trailers
It’ll be a while before we get a trailer (or even a teaser) for Lanterns, as the show has yet to finish shooting and will spend some time in post-production before it can be unveiled to the world.
We’ll be keeping this article updated with the first previews as soon as they hit.
Who is starring in Lanterns?
Lanterns is led by Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge) as John Stewart. Kelly Macdonald‘s (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew) role as Kerry, the sheriff of a small town, is said to be pivotal too.
The leading trio is joined by the following names:
- Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood) as “modern cowboy” William Macon.
- Poorna Jagannathan (Never Have I Ever) as Zoe, a “cunning” woman.
- Ulrich Thomsen (Grundtvig) as Sinestro, a Green Lantern who went rogue a long time ago and once mentored Hal Jordan.
- Nicole Ari Parker (And Just Like That…) as Bernadette, John Stewart’s mother.
- Jasmine Cephas Jones (Origin) as a young Bernadette.
- Jason Ritter (Matlock) as Billy Macon, Kerry’s husband and William’s son.
- Sherman Augustus (Stranger Things) as John Stewart Sr.
- J. Alphonse Nicholson (They Cloned Tyrone) as a young John Stewart Sr.
- Nathan Fillion (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) as Guy Gardner
Who are the Lanterns directors, writers, & crew?
The show, which is said to be drawing inspiration from ‘prestige’ drama series like True Detective and Slow Horses, was created by Chris Mundy (Ozark), DC Comics veteran Tom King (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow), and Damon Lindelof (The Leftovers). They’re credited as executive producers alongside DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran (Creature Commandos, Superman).
Justin Britt-Gibson (The Strain), Breannah Gibson (The Penguin), and Vanessa Baden (Animal Kingdom) are part of the writers’ room, too. James Hawes (Slow Horses) will direct the first two episodes; Stephen Williams (Watchmen), Geeta Vasant Patel (Star Wars: Ahsoka), and Alik Sakharov (Dark Matter) are reportedly helming the rest of season 1. We’ve yet to hear about a potential second volume of episodes.
