DCU Series Lanterns Officially Premieres on HBO in One Week

HBO established itself as the home for prestige drama with shows like The Wire and The Sopranos, but the 2011 premiere of Game of Thrones changed everything. The smash hit became the network’s biggest draw, leading HBO to try to keep fantasy fans subscribing by launching two spinoffs — House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

It takes time to produce more television within that universe, as House of the Dragon season 3 ended on Sunday and the series will not return until 2028. Season 2 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is expected to release next year. But the world of George R.R. Martin remains only one epic franchise that HBO is adapting.

The popularity of Game of Thrones created several big-budget fantasy imitators like Netflix’s The Witcher and Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. It also inspired HBO to invest in other genres. The network tested science fiction with Westworld and post-apocalyptic horror with The Last of Us. One of its biggest successes blended mystery and superheroes with the Emmy-winning 2019 miniseries Watchmen, a continuation of the seminal graphic novel from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Now HBO is trying to replicate that winning mix with a new series arriving next week.

Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof teamed up with comics writer Tom King (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Mister Miracle) and Ozark showrunner Chris Mundy to create the superhero mystery Lanterns. While the show is set in the DC Universe, it borrows heavily from the tone and structure of another HBO hit, the anthology mystery series True Detective. Like House of the Dragon, Lanterns focuses on complicated characters struggling to grab or hold onto power in a dangerous world. If the House of the Dragon finale leaves viewers looking for another series to watch Sunday night, Lanterns offers a new alternative.

What is Lanterns about?

The Green Lanterns work as intergalactic peacekeepers, sometimes derogatorily called space cops. Each carries a ring that allows them to conjure anything they can imagine as solid green light. Test pilot Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) was chosen by one of these power rings to be the first Green Lantern of Earth. The Guardians of the Universe picked another human, the Marine and architect John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), to serve as a backup Lantern, and they tasked Hal with training him.

Hal dislikes the idea of being replaced, so he is not especially nice to his trainee. The dynamic creates a buddy cop setup as the arrogant veteran Hal and the highly disciplined, eager-to-learn John work together to investigate a murder in the small town of Rushville, Nebraska. The mystery involves the Manhunters, extremely dangerous extraterrestrials capable of taking on any form. Rooting out their influence puts the Lanterns and everyone in Rushville in danger.

How does Lanterns fit into the DCU?

Like Creature Commandos and Peacemaker, Lanterns is part of the rebooted DC Universe from DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) was introduced in Gunn’s Superman in 2025 and makes an appearance in Lanterns. John Stewart is also expected to appear in Gunn’s movie Man of Tomorrow.

While Guy Gardner showed off his powers in Superman, Lanterns goes into far more depth regarding the history and structure of the Green Lantern Corps and how their abilities function. The Manhunters serve as the primary threat in the series, but the show also introduces another iconic Green Lantern villain. Sinestro trained Hal before betraying the Corps to satisfy his own ambition, and the trailer reveals Hal still gets advice from his former mentor.

Guy Gardner belongs to the proto-Justice League group known as the Justice Gang, while Sinestro is a classic member of the supervillain group the Legion of Doom. The cosmic nature of Green Lantern stories means they have also been involved with major threats to the galaxy in comics crossover events like Zero Hour and Blackest Night. The dangers introduced in Lanterns could easily spill over to the rest of the DCU.

How can you watch Lanterns?

Lanterns premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Aug. 16. New episodes release each Sunday through Oct. 4.

Source: Polygon