Lanterns is an American superhero television series created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King for HBO, based on the DC Comics Green Lantern characters Hal Jordan and John Stewart. It is the third television series in the DC Universe (DCU). It features experienced Lantern Jordan and new recruit Stewart as they team up with local sheriff Kerry Kane to investigate a murder in Rushville, Nebraska that leads to a wider mystery. The series was produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television with Mundy serving as showrunner.
Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre and Kelly Macdonald respectively star as Jordan, Stewart and Kane. Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan and Ulrich Thomsen also star. Greg Berlanti began developing a Green Lantern television series by October 2019. After James Gunn and Peter Safran became co-CEOs of DC Studios in October 2022, the series was redeveloped. It was announced in January 2023, along with its detective story style, which was inspired by the series True Detective (2014–present) and Slow Horses (2022–present). The involvement of Mundy, Lindelof, and King was confirmed in mid-2024 when HBO ordered the series. Slow Horses James Hawes was hired to direct the first two episodes in October, when Chandler and Pierre were cast. Filming took place in Los Angeles from February to July 2025, with Stephen Williams, Geeta Vasant Patel, and Alik Sakharov also directing.
Lanterns premiered on August 16, 2026, and ran for eight episodes through October 4. It is part of the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.
Premise Green Lanterns are interstellar peacekeepers who wear rings that give them extraordinary powers. The series follows experienced Lantern Hal Jordan and new recruit John Stewart as they investigate a murder in Rushville, Nebraska, which Hal believes is an extraterrestrial incident and leads them to darker mysteries and reckonings.
Cast and characters
Main Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern:A USAF veteran, former test pilot and legendary member of the Green Lantern Corps, who is responsible for protecting Sector 2814. In the series, Hal is approaching retirement, and is filling in to train John Stewart. The Guardians of the Universe, who founded and lead the Corps, are concerned about what Hal may or may not have inherited from his former mentor Thaal Sinestro. The writers took inspiration for the character from Sam Shepard's portrayal of Chuck Yeager in the film The Right Stuff (1983). Showrunner Chris Mundy felt Chandler had the same qualities as well as a "dry wit" that they felt was important for Hal. Henry Samiri portrays a young Hal in flashback scenes. Aaron Pierre as John Stewart:A new Green Lantern recruit whom Hal is training to replace himself. John is considered an anomaly because he is the first Green Lantern in the Corps' history to have been recruited by the Guardians of the Universe instead of being chosen by a power ring, as is customary. Mundy said the character was both a Marine and an artistic architect, and felt Pierre could portray both of these aspects. He said Pierre was a "serious theater actor, yet he also looks like he was built in a lab to be an action star". Director James Hawes said Pierre had "a magnificent presence. He feels so forceful, so cool, so understated." Jayce Eiland and Cairo Cash Lee portray John as a child and a teenager, respectively, in flashback scenes. Kelly Macdonald as Kerry Kane: A sheriff deeply devoted to her family and close-knit town of Rushville, Nebraska, who gets territorial upon the arrival of the "big-shot" Green Lanterns. Originally from Gotham City, Kerry is a love interest for Hal in the series. Garret Dillahunt as William "Will" Macon: Kerry's father-in-law and a powerful rancher whose avowed aim is to protect his community from alien threats Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe Macon: A Manhunter posing as William's human wife who seduces John to gain his trust Ulrich Thomsen as Thaal Sinestro: A "ruthless yet undeniably charming" former Green Lantern, and Hal's mentor and father figure, who went rogue and was expelled from the Green Lantern Corps after a failed coup, during which he killed one of the twelve Guardians of the Universe. Sinestro appears imprisoned in space as of 2016, though he had escaped by 2026.
Recurring Cary Christopher and Shea Pritchard as Noah Macon: Kerry and Billy's son and William's grandson who is later revealed to be a Manhunter. Christopher portrays Noah as a child in 2016 while Pritchard portrays Noah as a teenager in 2026. Michael Ocampo as Lopez: A deputy with the Rushville police Paul Ben-Victor as Antaan: An extraterrestrial leader who seeks revenge for the genocide of his species and possesses the ability to detonate his body Laura Linney as Lianna: A member of the Guardians of the Universe who selects John as a potential Lantern recruit Jared Grimes as Marcus Stewart: John's older brother. Noah Gibson-Slates and Richard Whitney Gardenhire Jr. portray Marcus respectively as a child and teenager. Romeo Brown as Aaron Stewart: John's older brother. Lumi Oniyide and Jaylen Lyndon Hunter portray Aaron respectively as a child and teenager. Hannah Christine Shetler as Maggie: A waitress who works at a café in Rushville
Guest Jason Ritter as Billy Macon: Kerry's lawyer husband and William's son who does his father's bidding. Several years following the events of 2016, Billy and Kerry have divorced. J. Alphonse Nicholson as John Stewart Sr.: John's father who is in the military Jasmine Cephas Jones as Bernadette Stewart: John's mother Chris Coy as "Waylon Sanders": An alien and a member of Antaan's species who disguises himself as a nervous truck driver Sergio Lanza as a Green Lantern recruiter who approaches John in 2016 Jason Manuel Olazabal as Hector Gutiérrez: An engineer forced by William to pose as Hector Hammond, owner of Atlas Inc., who operates various high-tech slaughterhouses Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner / Green Lantern: A former physical education teacher and abrasive Green Lantern who is a member of the Justice Gang. Fillion described the character as the "a little bit higher strung" in Lanterns compared to his introduction in the DC Universe (DCU) film Superman (2025), and that he enjoyed exploring the character in a new environment. Amie MacKenzie as Carol Ferris: Hal's former love interest Jake B. Miller as Martin Jordan: Hal's deceased father Matt Rhule as a fictional version of himself who is the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
Episodes
Production Background Greg Berlanti, the producer of multiple DC Comics–based television series, announced that he was developing a series based on the Green Lantern characters for the streaming service HBO Max in October 2019. Berlanti had previously co-written the film Green Lantern (2011). In January 2020, he said the series would span several decades and tell two stories about Green Lanterns on Earth, as well as a story about the villainous character Sinestro in space. The series was officially picked up for a 10-episode season by HBO Max that October. Marc Guggenheim, who also co-wrote the Green Lantern film, and Seth Grahame-Smith were revealed to be writing the series, with Grahame-Smith serving as showrunner. The series could not make use of the main Green Lanterns from the comic books, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, because they were being reserved for DC Extended Universe (DCEU) films. Instead, the series was set to explore other Green Lanterns from the comics, including Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Alan Scott, Kilowog, and new Green Lanterns created for the series.
In April 2021, the series was revealed to primarily focus on Scott, a secretly gay FBI agent in 1941 who becomes Earth's first Green Lantern, and Gardner, an "embodiment of 1980s hyper-patriotism", alongside the half-alien Bree Jarta in 1984. Finn Wittrock was cast as Gardner after Berlanti received permission from producer Ryan Murphy for the actor to prioritize Green Lantern over the planned second season of Murphy's Netflix series Ratched (2020). An actor was in negotiations to portray Scott. The series was said to be the most expensive in Berlanti's career and was expected to begin filming later in 2021. Berlanti had been writing with Grahame-Smith and Guggenheim, who were all serving as executive producers alongside Geoff Johns, Sarah Schechter, David Madden, and David Katzenberg. Pornsak Pichetshote, who previously served as an editor for DC's Vertigo Comics imprint and was an executive at DC Entertainment overseeing its television content, was later revealed to be part of the writers' room as well. Jeremy Irvine was revealed to be in talks to portray Scott in May, and was officially cast soon after. Lee Toland Krieger was hired to direct the first two episodes at the end of the month. In August 2021, Wittrock said filming would begin at the end of the year or in early 2022.
In April 2022, Discovery, Inc. and Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), led by president and CEO David Zaslav. The new company was expected to restructure DC Entertainment while Zaslav began searching for an equivalent to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to lead the new subsidiary. In June, Irvine said there was no scheduled start date for filming the series and the production was working on "getting all the stars to align". A month later, the series was reaffirmed to be in development despite the cancellation of other HBO Max and DC projects by WBD. In October 2022, Grahame-Smith was revealed to have left the series, which was being redeveloped to focus on Stewart. James Gunn and Peter Safran were announced as the co-chairs and co-CEOs of the newly formed DC Studios at the end of that month. A week after starting their new roles, the pair had begun developing an eight-to-ten-year plan for a new DC Universe (DCU) that would be a "soft reboot" of the DCEU.
Development
Gunn said in December 2022 that Green Lantern characters would be an important part of the new DCU. On January 31, 2023, he and Safran unveiled the first projects from their DCU slate, which begins with Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. The third television series in the slate was Lanterns, a new iteration of the long-in-development Green Lantern series. This version features the two best-known Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, and Safran said it would be an Earth-based detective story rather than the space opera that Berlanti had envisioned. He said the series would be an "HBO-quality event" in the style of crime drama series True Detective (2014–present), and spy thriller series Slow Horses (2022–present). The mystery that Jordan and Stewart investigate leads into the main storyline for the DCU, so the series was an important project for Gunn and Safran.
Damon Lindelof was consulting on the series as a producer by January 2024, when it was said to be a priority project for the streaming service Max, at that time the name of HBO Max before the old name returned in July 2025. The following month, Chris Mundy was reported to be serving as showrunner while Tom King, a member of the DC Studios writers' room, was also attached as a producer. Gunn confirmed the involvement of Mundy, King, and Lindelof in May 2024. King had originally pitched the concept for the series, and Mundy was hired by Gunn and Safran based on his work on the crime drama Ozark (2017–2022) as well as the fourth season of True Detective (2024). Mundy and King began developing the series together and enlisted Lindelof, who created the DC Comics–based limited series Watchmen (2019). Lindelof agreed to join because of his love for Ozark and King's comic books. Mundy, Lindelof, and King are credited as the series's creators.