Lanterns Showrunners Unpack Hal Jordan’s Killer Reveal In Devastating Finale
Andy Behbakht has worked as an entertainment journalist since 2010, covering all the latest in Hollywood on both the big and small screens, from staying on top of the biggest breaking news, analyzing movies and television shows in Hollywood, to in-depth interviews with actors and storytellers.
Andy's career includes having worked for publications such as FanSided, KSiteTV, TV Fanatic, It's Just Movies, Heroic Hollywood, TV Overmind, and more. Outside of his career as an established reporter, Andy is the host and producer of The Showrunner Whisperer, The Flash Podcast, the editor-in-chief of Multiverse of Color, and the network director of DC TV Podcasts.
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WARNING: This article includes MAJOR spoilers from Lanterns season 1, episode 8.
The massive DC Universe mystery of 2026 has finally been solved.
As Hal Jordan made his debut in the DCU's Chapter 1: "Gods and Monsters" this year, the world got quite the surprise with Kyle Chandler's introduction. Despite being one of the biggest heroes in the whole DC canon, his first appearance came with the shocking twist that in the present timeline, the Emerald Knight had been murdered.
The Lanterns season 1 finale finally revealed who killed Hal, and during a recent press conference, attended by ScreenRant's Andy Behbakht, showrunner Chris Mundy, along with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Tom King, broke down the events of episode 8. As it was unveiled that Sheriff Kerry Kane was the one who shot Hal, Mundy began by stating that "It’s weird because when you get to the end of a season, I feel like the finale should be the easiest episode to write, I always think, and people that do this job can debate this, but I feel like if you’ve done your job, everything is just sort of like funnelling down to this key just emotional- emotional components. And so… And so, really, I don’t think there ever was really another ending."
He teased that "there were a few- there were a few things we- we had that we actually had put on the page at one point, like of bringing Bernadette in for more closure with John and try to explain the house stuff, but it became a little emotionally diffuse, if we- if we did that, we just wanted it to stay on the line of these guys." Mundy explained how they "knew we wanted… We knew we wanted Hal and Kerry; we didn’t just want to hear that they were close, we wanted to experience it, so that was going to you know… So, it was really, the finale kind of has three distinct sections and acts and all of them had to be in there. So, I can’t think of a big story point that we- that we talked about and explored for a while and then gave up on, am I remembering wrong?"
According to Lindelof, as they were crafting the episode 1 ending with Kerry and John Stewart finding Hal's dead body, he stated,"I echo everything that you just said. I think in the very early days, obviously in the pilot that the three of us wrote, the ending of the pilot is that Hal Jordan is dead and we really… we knew that we didn’t want it to be a fake-out, in order for the… in order for all of the emotional progression to feel real and earned and lived that- that we were sticking to that and there wasn’t going to be a rug-pull." But from the get-go, they knew it was Kerry who had pulled the trigger heading into the Lanterns finale, as he added the following:
Damon Lindelof: And all these emotional moments that you’re basically referencing are- are as a result of understanding that, you know, that we meant it when we said there’s one right and two guys and one of these guys is going- is going to be wearing it at the end, and there’s going to be a fight, and there’s going to be a resolution from that fight. But when it came to who- who killed Hal and why, I- I remember it being Chris from very early on, who was basically like, I think it’s Kerry. And we wrestled early with the idea of not wanting her to feel duplicitous, like was there a way for her to love him and also kill him? And as three married men, we were like, absolutely, one- one thousand percent.
And- and… Obviously, Kyle is also a married man, but I- but I think that like being able to kind of earn that and play that and obviously make the character worthy of Kelly, and how to get in the car after that incredible scene that the two have, the Halogram and Kerry, and say she did it, and for Aaron/John to say, you know, “you thought I did it” etc. But I think the idea that the show starts to become a less of a whodunnit and more of a ‘why-done-it’, became like a very natural progression. Like that organically started to happen, certainly as we were casting the show without it having been written yet, knowing who we were writing for and what they were capable of. You can design more intricate plays when you know that you have that kind of talent on the field.
King chimed in and said that there were a few elements they had in a previous version of past episodes, specifically in regards to Hal's funeral. According to the DC Comics writer, in the "very early on was in… we got… we got to this ending very quickly. The one thing, I think it’s just fun for fans, because you can see some vestibule of it, is a little bit in seven and a little bit in six, there was some minor thoughts that we would do… Hal has a terrible funeral, that we would have a bigger funeral, that the Lantern, we would look up in the sky and we would see this huge sort of explosion of lantern light." Instead, they found other ways to work in some of those ideas into the iteration viewers saw on screen.
Sector 2814 · Ring Active How Well Do You Know Lanterns? “In brightest day, in blackest night...”
💍The RingPowered by will
🔦The Corps3,600 sectors
🌌OaThe Guardians
👮Earth BeatSector 2814
⚠Yellow
PerilThe fear entity
01
Lanterns is one of the tentpole TV series launching James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Universe. On which streaming platform does it air?
✓ Correct! HBO Max — Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streamer and the natural home for DCU prestige TV alongside Peacemaker and The Penguin. Lanterns is positioned as the DCU’s high-end serialised drama counterpart to Gunn’s theatrical Superman relaunch, sharing canon with the films. Disney+ runs Marvel; Netflix and Apple are rival streamers.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is HBO Max. Netflix has had various superhero shows but not DCU. Disney+ is Marvel’s home. Apple TV+ doesn’t house DC. HBO Max is Warner Bros. Discovery’s streamer and the TV home of the Gunn/Safran DCU — Lanterns joins Peacemaker and upcoming DCU series there.
02
Unlike most Green Lantern adaptations, Lanterns pairs two Earth-based ring-bearers in a buddy-cop framework — a weathered veteran and a newer recruit partnered together on Sector 2814 duty. Which two Lanterns lead the show?
✓ Correct! Hal Jordan and John Stewart — two of the most beloved Earth-assigned Lanterns — are paired as the show’s central duo. Hal is the hot-shot test-pilot veteran, John the disciplined ex-Marine architect with a sharper sense of justice. The pairing draws heavily from the Geoff Johns comics era and lets the show explore two very different philosophies of what a Green Lantern should be.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Guy Gardner (played by Nathan Fillion) is a separate DCU character who appears in the 2025 Superman film. Kyle Rayner is a beloved Lantern but not part of this show. The Lanterns duo is the Hal/John pairing — a pointedly contrasting veteran and recruit on Sector 2814 duty together.
03
The role of Hal Jordan — the weathered, test-pilot-turned-space-cop original Earth Lantern — went to a veteran actor best known as Coach Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights and for leading Bloodline. Who plays Hal?
✓ Correct! Kyle Chandler — Emmy winner for Friday Night Lights, star of Bloodline, and part of the Monsterverse (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) — plays an older, weathered Hal Jordan. James Gunn wanted a seasoned, grounded presence rather than a rookie. Ryan Reynolds played Hal in 2011’s widely-mocked Green Lantern film (a different continuity); Nathan Fillion plays Guy Gardner in the 2025 Superman film.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Kyle Chandler. Ryan Reynolds’ Hal was the 2011 film (a separate, mostly-disowned continuity). Nathan Fillion plays Guy Gardner in the 2025 Superman film — not Hal. Chris Pine isn’t in the DCU. Chandler’s weathered, Friday-Night-Lights gravitas is exactly the mature Hal energy Gunn wanted for the show.
04
John Stewart — ex-Marine sniper, architect, and one of DC’s most iconic Black heroes — is played by a British actor who broke out in Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad and Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge. Who is he?
✓ Correct! Aaron Pierre — the British actor who earned raves as Caesar in The Underground Railroad (2021) and carried Netflix’s Rebel Ridge (2024) with a performance frequently compared to early Denzel Washington. Gunn called his casting “a no-brainer.” Winston Duke, Sterling K. Brown and John Boyega are all great actors but not in the role.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Aaron Pierre. Winston Duke is M’Baku in the Marvel universe. Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us, American Fiction) is Marvel-adjacent too. John Boyega famously played Finn in Star Wars. Pierre’s Rebel Ridge performance — playing a disciplined ex-Marine — is essentially his audition for John Stewart, and Gunn’s team cast him off it.
05
James Gunn has repeatedly pitched Lanterns as a grounded, small-town murder-mystery thriller — where the space-cop rings are secondary to a detective case on Earth. Which acclaimed HBO series is his go-to tonal comparison?
✓ Correct! Gunn has explicitly called Lanterns his “True Detective in the DCU” — a slow-burn, atmospheric, character-driven case with superhero elements layered over a grounded murder mystery. Showrunner Chris Mundy actually did True Detective: Night Country duties, bringing that DNA directly. Watchmen (Damon Lindelof) was also cited, and Lindelof has consulting writer credits, but True Detective is the primary comp.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is True Detective. Gunn has named it as the explicit tonal blueprint — a slow-burn, character-driven murder mystery with superhero elements layered over it. Chris Mundy, the show’s runner, worked on True Detective: Night Country, bringing the DNA directly. Watchmen was a secondary comp (Damon Lindelof consults), but True Detective is the primary pitch.
06
When James Gunn and Peter Safran took over as DC Studios co-CEOs in 2022, they announced a rebooted slate of interconnected films and TV shows — with Lanterns among the launch titles. What is this first DCU phase officially called?
✓ Correct! Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters — announced in January 2023 as the Gunn/Safran DCU’s opening slate. It includes Superman (2025), The Authority, Supergirl, The Brave and the Bold, Paradise Lost, Waller, Creature Commandos, and of course Lanterns. Crisis on Infinite Earths is a comics event; Flashpoint and Dark Knights are other DC storylines, not the chapter branding.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters. Crisis on Infinite Earths is a famous DC comics crossover event (and Arrowverse crossover) but not a DCU chapter label. Flashpoint was referenced in The Flash (2023) from the now-defunct DCEU. The Gunn/Safran era officially named its launch phase Gods and Monsters — Superman 2025, Lanterns, and related titles.
07
Green Lanterns serve the Guardians of the Universe, an ancient race who created the Corps’ 3,600-sector peacekeeping force and charge the Lantern rings from a central Power Battery on their home planet. What is the Guardians’ homeworld called?
✓ Correct! Oa — the small blue-skinned Guardians’ home at the centre of the universe. It houses the Central Power Battery from which all Green Lantern rings draw their energy, and serves as the Corps’ academy and operational base. Krypton is Superman’s destroyed homeworld; Themyscira is Wonder Woman’s hidden Amazon island; Apokolips is Darkseid’s hellscape.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is Oa. Krypton is Superman’s homeworld. Themyscira is Paradise Island where Wonder Woman was raised. Apokolips is Darkseid’s grim world in the Fourth World mythos. Oa is specifically the Guardians of the Universe’s planet — home to the Central Power Battery that fuels every Green Lantern ring in all 3,600 sectors.
08
Every Green Lantern recites the same oath when charging their ring — a four-line rhyming incantation that’s become one of the most famous pieces of verse in comic-book history. How does it famously begin?
✓ Correct! “In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil’s might / Beware my power — Green Lantern’s light!” The oath dates back to 1940’s All-American Comics #16, was refined through the Silver Age, and is considered one of DC’s most sacred bits of verse. Every canonical adaptation includes some version of it.
✗ Ring malfunction! The answer is “In brightest day, in blackest night...” The full oath: “No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil’s might / Beware my power — Green Lantern’s light!” It’s been canon since 1940 and remains one of comics’ most instantly recognisable pieces of verse — recited in every major Green Lantern adaptation.
Ring Depowered · Report to Oa Your Corps Rank
💍
/ 8
Honor Guard veteran — or still in Corps training?
He confirmed that "you can see the leftovers of it in the… when John digs them up, he talk, “oh, in a proper funeral, you’d have the sky all lit up”. But when we sort of got to that moment, I think collectively, we were like, this is not a moment that’s about the lanterns in the sky or about Hal’s funeral, this is a moment about these two men and their relationship with each other, and that’s the centre of it. And- And so, we just put the focus back on where it should be, which is on Kyle and Aaron and their beautiful performance." As of writing, Lanterns season 2 has yet to be announced by DC Studios and HBO.
Catch all episodes of Lanterns season 1 on HBO Max.
- Release Date
- August 16, 2026
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- Chris Mundy
- Directors
- Alik Sakharov, James Hawes, Stephen Williams, Geeta Patel
- Writers
- Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy, Tom King, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Justin Britt-Gibson, Breannah Gibson
-
Kyle Chandler
Hal Jordan
-
Aaron Pierre
John Stewart
- Franchise(s)
- DC Universe
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Creator(s)
- Tom King, Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof
- Executive Producer(s)
- Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, James Gunn, James Hawes, Peter Safran, Tom King, Ron Schmidt
- Producers
- Breannah Gibson, James Gunn, Peter Safran, Ron Schmidt, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Karen Wacker, Kiegan Downs
- Seasons
- 1
- Release Window
- 2026
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