Why Lanterns could be HBO’s next big thing

Ash Walker • 11 Aug 2026 Features

In brightest day, in blackest night…

HBO (and now their streaming service HBO Max) has long been the home of high-quality, prestige TV. With the likes of The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Euphoria, The White Lotus and, most recently, The Pitt, HBO has created some of the best, most enduring small screen epics out there, and made some indelible impacts on popular culture.

So when the network does something new, it’s always worth taking a look. And, for our money, the most exciting thing on HBO’s upcoming slate - sorry Harry Potter - is undoubtedly Lanterns.

Credit: Lanterns | Official Trailer | HBO Max (HBO Max, YouTube)

Lanterns? Is this a show about interior lighting?

While we’re sure that HBO could make a show about household illumination gripping, edge-of-your-seat stuff, Lanterns is anything but.

Based on DC’s Green Lantern comics - and officially part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s brand new cinematic DCU, which kicked off last year in spectacular style with Superman - Lanterns follows two super-powered space cops as they investigate a grisly Earth-based murder. The show’s creators have cited another HBO classic, True Detective, as a creative touchstone, and the trailers so far have presented something much darker and more grounded than you might expect from a superhero show.

Wait, wasn’t there already a Green Lantern movie?

There was! But we don’t like to talk about that.

The Ryan Reynolds-starring 2011 movie was such a critical and commercial flop that it’s since become something of a legend. Reynolds himself has basically made a career out of making fun of it.

But the Green Lantern comics - especially Geoff Johns’s legendary 2000s run - are so beloved that it was only a matter of time before DC took another run at it. This new version looks to be more in line with those comics, while also trying something a little new.

Ok, so who are these Green Lantern guys?

The Green Lantern Corps are essentially intergalactic cops, keeping law and order at the behest of the mysterious Guardians - a race of diminutive blue aliens from the planet Oa, which sits at the exact centre of the universe. They’re empowered by magic rings, which channel the wearer’s willpower to conjure up bright green constructs.

Still with us?

The show follows a pair of these Green Lanterns - grizzled veteran Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and ambitious rookie John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), who seem to be vying for control of the same ring. We also get glimpses of a third Lantern in obnoxious blowhard Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), last seen in James Gunn’s Superman movie.

So far, most of the footage we’ve seen of Lanterns is all very grounded, but the comics have an extremely rich and wide-ranging mythology. The Green Lantern Corps is populated by all manner of weird and wonderful alien creatures, including a talking, anthropomorphic squirrel and a sentient planet.

It’s unlikely that we’ll see those particular guys on screen - at least in Season 1 - but we do know that at least one other (former) Corpsman will appear in the show: renegade Lantern Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), who in the comics trained Hal Jordan before going to the dark side and wielding a yellow power ring.

Hang on - there’s a Yellow Lantern too?

More than one! In typically humble fashion, Sinestro eventually forms the Sinestro Corps in opposition to his former brothers in arms, channeling the yellow power of fear in an attempt to rule the universe.

So we have green and yellow, but the mythology expands even further too, introducing a whole spectrum of light-wielding superbeings. There are rage-filled, lava-spewing Red Lanterns and serene, hopeful Blue Lanterns - not to mention the evil, undead Black Lanterns.

It’s easy to imagine how Lanterns could expand beyond the confines of Earth for future seasons, bringing in some beloved characters and storylines from the comics. Could we eventually see the Sinestro Corps War on screen in all its multicoloured glory? Or even Blackest Night?

So why should we be excited?

First off, Lanterns looks like it’s taking its source material seriously, offering a proper grown-up take on one of DC’s most beloved characters. There’s also a fun, interesting dynamic being set up between the two leads - one the old, world-weary veteran, the other an ambitious newcomer - that’s sure to be fuel for some great tension.

It’s a cop show, a murder mystery and a superhero story, all rolled into one, and there’s loads of potential for an ever-expanding mythology in future seasons. If this starts out as something along the lines of True Detective, it could eventually blossom into something as epic as Game of Thrones.

What’s not to love?

HBO Max is now available in the UK. Get it with Sky TV, Netflix, Disney+ and Heyu for only £24 per month with Sky Ultimate TV, ready for the first episode of Lanterns on 16th August.