Everything to Know About HBO's Green Lantern TV Series Lanterns

The world of DC Comics on screen is in a weird limbo right now, awaiting the start of James Gunn's and Peter Safran's new, rebooted edition of DC's movie-and-TV-verse. But that new universe is beginning to take shape, and the newest piece that we know about is Lanterns, an eight-epsiode HBO series that will tell the story of two Green Lanterns, the veteran Hal Jordan and rookie John Stewart, as they take on an Earth-based murder mystery.

In the meantime, we're in a weird spot. The old DC Universe is dead, and the new universe is forthcoming — right now, we're just getting totally separate stuff like Joker: Folie a Deux and The Penguin that are part of their own timelines. But things will soon start moving quickly, with Creature Commandos in December leading into next summer's Superman, written and directed by Gunn, which will give us our proper introduction to the new status quo. 

TV and streaming will be a huge part of DC's strategy during this attempt to replicate the success of the MCU, with Peacemaker Season 2 in production, and with this Lanterns series in development. Let's see what we know about this one so far.

Lanterns latest news

We now know who will be wearing the Lantern rings on this series — Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights' Coach Taylor) will play Hal Jordan, the old hat, and Aaron Pierre, who's having a breakout moment right now thanks to his star turn in Netflix's Rebel Ridge, will play Stewart. These castings aren't just for this series — Chandler and Pierre will reprise these roles in other Green Lantern-related DC shows or movies if they stick around, and they probably will because these are the two main Green Lanterns that people know from the comics.

Lanterns premiere date

There's no info about when we should expect Lanterns to debut on HBO and Max, but it's unlikely to be soon, as the lead actors have only just been cast. Plan for a 2026 premiere for Lanterns if everything goes smoothly.

What will Lanterns be about?

The Green Lantern Corps is basically a cosmic police organization, and Lanterns will be a detective story in which Jordan and Stewart investigate a murder in American flyover country. Though nothing else is concrete, DC co-chief Peter Safran said in early 2023 that it's "very much in the vein of True Detective," and Variety pointed out that he seemed the most excited about Lanterns of all the upcoming DC shows.

While we don't know anything else, it's worth noting that another Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, will be played by Nathan Fillion in Superman, so it's distinctly possible that the plot of this series will follow directly from that film.

Lanterns cast and crew

Lanterns will be run by Ozark shorunner Chris Mundy, with Lost's Damon Lindelof producing and co-writing. Pierre and Chandler are the only announced cast members thus far. But Frank Grillo is slated to show up in everything else in the new DC Universe as Rick Flag Sr, and so it wouldn't be overly surprising for him to make an appearance.

Lanterns cast:

• Kyle Chandler as Green Lantern Hal Jordan
• Aaron Pierre as Green Lantern John Stewart

Where to watch Green Lantern

While it's not a good movie in any normal sense and has no connections to other films, the 2011 Green Lantern movie, which starred Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, does still serve as a decent introduction to the Green Lantern Corps, which have not appeared elsewhere in live-action. Green Lantern is not on a streaming service right now, but is available to rent or buy on Blu-ray or on streaming.