HBO’s Lanterns Just Lost Green Lantern Fans With One Disappointing Reveal

2 hours ago 4

Published May 2, 2026, 9:01 AM EDT

Jared is a writer, editor, and Communications Studies graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings) and the interactive storytelling medium. Jared's first console was the PS1, wherein he fell for Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot.

Lanterns cannot catch a break. Every new piece of pre-release marketing for the DC Universe and HBO’s Lanterns series has been met with fairly loud criticism, beginning with the fact that fans of DC and Green Lantern only had the one image of Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart and Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan for what felt like eternity. The show’s first trailer then drew criticism for how drab and desaturated it was, bearing more in common with Yellowstone or True Detective than a cosmic, intergalactic sci-fi epic—and deliberately so.

Lanterns’ approach to Green Lantern lore also appears shaky at best, due to the Green Lantern Corps virtually having no worldbuilding in the DCU yet and Hal’s remarks about it being largely distasteful. Now, adding fuel to this fire is Lanterns’ first poster, which would be entirely egregious if not for the paramount context of the show’s storyline and canon.

Lanterns’ First Poster Is Stirring The Pot

John Stewart and Hal Jordan at a bar in HBO's Lanterns

Lanterns’ first official poster has been revealed, and it is relatively simple: a giant Green Lantern ring, with Hal Jordan and John Stewart as tiny silhouettes on its band, against a green background. However, it is the tagline above the poster’s Lanterns and DC Studios logos that has been remarkably alarming: “Only one can wear the ring.”

This tagline is concerning because it is incorrect, at least regarding the typical DC and Green Lantern mythologies, where there are thousands of Green Lanterns and plenty of other Corps on a spectrum of color. Plus, the DCU’s Superman movie already established a different Green Lantern, Guy Gardner.

The likeliest thing to infer from this tagline is, for whatever reason, that John becoming a Lantern is dependent on Hal retiring and surrendering his ring to him. Perhaps Hal is mentoring John to not only become a Lantern but also be his successor, and he seems to be doing so involuntarily and with unpleasant, unorthodox lessons, such as sending John plummeting off a cliff in a car.

Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DCU may lift explicit inspiration from DC comics, but it is not beholden to them; Creature Commandos, Peacemaker, and Superman are further proof that this cinematic continuity will be full of original storytelling, and that means iconic lore could be rewritten about any character.

John and Hal sharing a ring would make for an interesting dynamic where one character may be demanding it for active-duty service while the other refuses to give it up, leaving one of them defenseless at any given time. This is corroborated by Lanterns’ first trailer, wherein John says, “With all due respect, we’ve been training for, what, two months? And I haven’t even worn the ring yet,” as Hal takes a look at the ring on his finger.

DCU Lantern Lore Is Hard To Parse

Aaron Pierre standing in a room in Lanterns

Ring lore is decidedly quite convoluted in comic book source material, anyhow, but John was originally selected as a Lantern to be Hal’s backup. It seems as if this is being loosely adapted in the HBO TV show, with John being fully committed to becoming a Lantern, despite his knowledge of the Lanterns being limited (he asks Hal if he has “talked with the other Lanterns,” and is taught that other Lanterns are aliens, for instance).

It is possible that John discovers he was chosen to be Hal’s backup in DCU’s Lanterns TV show and that he will only be able to take the ring for himself if Hal steps down (or dies). Lanterns will hopefully have an explanation as to why this is the case, though it would certainly make sense of this poster’s tagline if there is only one ring between the two of them.

Lanterns is scheduled to premiere on HBO Max on August 16, 2026.