Hal Jordan's DCU Story Ends On A Fitting But Controversial Decision

Lanterns Season 1 Finale Review: Hal Jordan's DCU Story Ends On A Fitting But Controversial Decision

The Lanterns season 1 finale perfectly explains what happened to Hal Jordan, while it sets up John Stewart to take over James Gunn's DCU.

Published Oct 4, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

Warning! This review contains SPOILERS for Lanterns season 1, episode 8.We are finally at the end of the road, and what a ride Lanterns turned out to be. The DC Universe series had a daunting task ahead of it, as the live-action DC TV show needed to change the public opinion on Green Lantern after Ryan Reynolds' movie from 2011 left a sour taste in the fans' mouths. Well, Lanterns achieved that in spades. More HBO crime thriller than your usual superhero action series, Lanterns carved new space in the genre for itself. The show set up many exciting mysteries on the ground, while never forgetting about its cosmic ties.

Going into the Lanterns season 1 finale, the DC series had to deal with a few questions related to who killed Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), if he was resurrected without John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) knowing about it, whether there were any other Manhunters running around, how Sinestro's escape from prison factored into Hal's fate, and how John would be set up to appear in 2027's Man of Tomorrow, the Superman movie sequel written and directed by James Gunn.

By the end of its runtime, Lanterns' season 1 finale perfectly answered all of those questions, though a couple of choices should prove divisive. All in all, I agree with the direction the show took, and even though I wish Hal's fate had been different, it made sense within the context of the series. The Lanterns season 1 finale also expertly avoids those big final battle episodes that other superhero shows tend to do — that was episode 5 here — and instead focuses on the characters' emotional turmoil and existential questions. It is a fine hour of TV.

Hal Jordan Is Dead & John Stewart Is The DCU Green Lantern To Follow

Image credit: John Johnson/HBO Max

DC fans came up with several theories for how Hal might come back to life or be revealed to not have died in the Lanterns season 1 finale. However, he is truly dead by the end of the episode, which I have to say I was shocked by. Don't get me wrong, Pierre's John Stewart is a strong character that I want to watch for the next decade, but Chandler's Hal Jordan is the clear standout of Lanterns. He oozed charisma in every scene he was in, and seeing Hal's story seemingly come to an end in the Lanterns season 1 finale was heartbreaking.

I choose to believe that DC could find a way to bring him back. That said, by charging Hal's ring on the power battery that Sinestro forged, it seems like the Hal-o-gram is no longer accessible to John, given what Sinestro said, and thus the DC villain can no longer use Hal's ring to bring him fully back to life like Ulrich Thomsen's DC character claimed he could. Episode 8 then can be seen as both the end of Hal Jordan's story in the DCU and the final chapter of John Stewart's origin story.

Lanterns' stars deserve some serious attention come the next awards season.

I enjoyed how we got to see Hal understanding that his actions in Rushville were wrong and changing after the years in prison. As for John, getting to crack Hal's murder case and doing it with grace and empathy just showed what a worthy hero he is. John reciting his own oath — a moment that I felt was fitting for Lanterns' story but don't believe it was the most exciting scenario for a Green Lantern adaptation — was the ultimate sign that he broke free of the rules that had dominated his childhood and became a hero on his own.

John is shaped by his own values, and like Hal, I couldn't help but feel proud of him by the end of the finale. The final moment between the two, where Hal kinda tricks John into saying "I love you," only to reply with "I love you too, junior," was what everything in their relationship throughout the eight episodes had been building up to. I got teary-eyed at that scene, and it just helped cement how Pierre and Chandler are two powerhouse actors. Lanterns' stars deserve some serious attention come the next awards season.

John Stewart's path in the DCU is now set. To keep an eye on the Manhunter left on Earth, Noah Macon, John summons Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner and sends him back with a message the Guardians of the Universe will understand, as John is essentially saying that he knows about Noah and if the Guardians don't want their dirty laundry aired, they will let him be the Green Lantern of Earth, while Guy takes the rest of Sector 2814.

I felt that was the perfect setup for Man of Tomorrow, as it gives John a solid reason to intervene. As the Green Lantern in charge of protecting Earth, John teaming up with Superman, Supergirl, the Justice Gang, and perhaps even more heroes to protect the planet from Brainiac makes perfect sense.

Hal Jordan's Killer Is The Lanterns Finale's Weak Spot

Photograph by John Johnson/HBO

Throughout the season, multiple characters kept rotating as prime suspects in the Hal Jordan murder case. While I enjoyed that the show did not go down the easy route of making Noah the actual killer, having the Manhunter lie and even tell John to kill him to protect his mom, I was not a fan of the Sheriff Kerry reveal. Yes, I understand wanting to protect her son and keeping Noah's life as it was. That said, when Hal found out about Noah's secret, he did not tell Kerry that he would kill him.

Sure, Hal's suggestion about moving and the general rambling at the moment might have been overwhelming for the character. However, there was not a moment in Lanterns season 1 that made it seem like Kerry would ever get that distressed that she would just shoot Hal in the head as a spur of the moment decision. Given how the episode finally allowed viewers to watch Hal and Kerry living what felt like their happily ever after, with the Sheriff even standing up for Hal in front of Rushville residents, it all ended on the bleakest note possible.

There Are A Couple Of Lanterns Season 2 Hooks

At face value, the show told the full story it set out to tell. By the end of the finale, John Stewart is a Green Lantern based on his own moral code, and the mystery surrounding Hal Jordan's death was elucidated. That said, there are a couple of events that Lanterns season 2, which has yet to be greenlit but a writers' room has been assembled for, could explore. I was surprised by how Sinestro was just left behind by John and the Hal-o-gram in the finale.

That is comic book Sinestro to perfection.

Thomsen desperately deserves more screen time in the DCU, as he cemented himself as a pitch-perfect Sinestro in episode 8. Watching him play mind games with both John and Hal while still chained in place was exhilarating. That is comic book Sinestro to perfection. I hope Lanterns season 2 gets to spend more time with the character, which could be how Chandler returns as Hal, through flashbacks, or perhaps follows Sinestro as he tries to bring Hal back to life, as he could have easily been lying about how John using the power battery would end Hal's chances of returning.

Question 1 of 2

Lanterns also laid the foundation for John to keep investigating gritty murder mysteries on Earth, as that is now his beat as Green Lantern. This would keep the True Detective tone that worked so well for season 1 and, under showrunner Chris Mundy, could remain an excellent part of the DCU in season 2. That said, after watching the finale, I hope more than anything that John and Hal get to meet again in the DCU, as Lanterns presented the best chemistry between heroes yet in the DC Universe.