The first episode of HBO Max’s Lanterns did a good job of setting up the central conceit we’ve heard since the beginning. This did feel like a comic booky, alien-infused take on True Detective. Weird small town with many secrets, two outsider (space) cops, a deeper conspiracy at play. Good stuff. But the final scene was a pretty major shock for viewers who were just getting a grasp of the premise and the character dynamics. If the internet’s reaction is any indication, it shocked longtime DC Comics fans, too.
Most of the action of Lanterns episode one takes place in 2016, with beloved (though surly) superhero Hal Jordan training new Green Lantern recruit John Stewart. He’s not super nice to John, calling him “junior” all the time, and they head to investigate a strange murder case in Rushville, NE. There they meet Sheriff Kerry Kane who really wants nothing to do with any of them.
The end of the episode, however, cuts 10 years later to 2026. John—who doesn’t seem to be a Green Lantern—arrives back in Rushville. He and Sheriff Kane hug like old friends. It’s the middle of winter and she takes John back to the football field where the original crime from 2016 took place. There they see the frozen dead body of none other than Hal Jordan!
So, Hal is dead in the present. But we have no idea at the moment how he got there, why he was there, and who or what killed him. We also see he doesn’t have a GL ring. Meaning it’s unlikely he was one anymore at the time of his death. Traditionally each sector only has one Green Lantern, and we know that in 2026, that title belongs to Guy Gardner. So, again I ask, who or what killed Hal Jordan and why?
This scene raises even more questions. First, what was the result of the case in 2016? Why isn’t Hal, or John for that matter, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814? And what did either of them get up to in the intervening 10 years?
Presumably all, or most, of these questions will find an answer as the season progresses. But as a cliffhanger to the first episode of your mystery series, killing one of the main characters is pretty stellar.
To learn more about Green Lantern comics, check out our Top 10 of all time.
Lanterns airs Sunday nights on HBO and HBO Max.