Damon Lindelof Explains How DC Series Lanterns Will Avoid Lost’s Mistakes

In 2004, Damon Lindelof changed television as the co-creator and co-showrunner of Lost, the ABC sci-fi drama that popularized the mystery box approach. For six seasons, viewers tuned in every week hoping to understand the mysterious island where Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 crashed. The drawn-out reveal frustrated many fans by the final season, giving Lindelof lessons he is now applying to his newest project.

Lindelof is the co-creator of the DC Universe series Lanterns, a sci-fi Western buddy cop drama that pairs veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, with his potential successor John Stewart, played by Aaron Pierre. During a press conference before the HBO premiere on Aug. 16, Lindelof discussed how the network’s urge to stretch Lost created narrative hurdles.

“We had to aggressively fight for an end date as early as when the show premiered,” Lindelof said. “For a show that had a mystery engine, the audience was saying ‘When are you going to tell us what the fuck is going on here?’ We’re like, ‘We really want to, but once we start answering mysteries, the show is coming down the hill, it’s closer to the end.’”

Lindelof took the opposite path with Watchmen, his 2019 HBO limited series continuing the comic by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. That narrative resolved its multi-decade storyline in nine episodes. For Lanterns, showrunner and co-creator Chris Mundy blended both storytelling methods.

“He said, ‘I want to tell a complete story. We’re going to do a mystery, and then, more importantly, we’re going to have a relationship story between these two guys that feels resolved at the end of the story that we’re telling,’” Lindelof said. “We want the audience to be really hungry for more when it ends. I think that it feels like it was a really good meal, but a couple of hours after you’ve consumed it, you’re going to say, ‘I think I want to spend some more time in that world.’”

Strong personal arcs drove the most memorable moments on Lost, and the Lanterns writing team prioritized the same dynamic.

“It’s all about the characters and their humanity,” Lindelof said. “If you start and approach the material and you’re having conversations about rings, planets, aliens, and all that stuff, you’re in the wrong territory. The territory is who are these guys? Where do they come from? What does Hal want? What does John want?”

The series contrasts Jordan’s swagger with Stewart’s disciplined approach, though Lindelof also framed their dynamic as a love story and a mutual respect story.

“We did talk a lot about father and son stories,” Lindelof said. “John and Hal are not quite father and son. They’re more akin to brothers — at least that’s the way that it reads sometimes. But they’re both processing this very complicated relationship with their own dads in partnership with one another.”

Across eight episodes, Lanterns explores this partnership while investigating a mass shooting in Rushville, Nebraska, tied to dangerous extraterrestrial activity. HBO has not yet announced a second season, though Pierre’s John Stewart is scheduled to appear in James Gunn’s feature film Man of Tomorrow in 2027.

The premiere episode of Lanterns is streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes airing on Sundays through Oct. 4.

Source: Polygon