HBO's Sci-Fi Detective Series 'Lanterns' Officially Drops a Major Villain Revelation | Review

Published Aug 23, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT

Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain, was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.

Sign in to your Collider account

Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for Lanterns Episode 2.

After a pilot that caused the internet to explode, Lanterns continues its slow-burn take on the Green Lantern mythos by splitting up Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) — at least for a limited time. If you thought Hal and John were already great together, this week's episode shows how much more interesting they can be apart. That's not to say we don't want to see Chandler and Pierre trading verbal blows over the ring, but when separated, each Green Lantern icon can act a bit more like themselves, free from whatever anxieties plague their on-screen partnership. With major revelations, complicated questions, and a whole lot of DC Comics lore, Lanterns' second episode further sets the stage for what is to come.

'Lanterns' Episode 2 Expands on the Green Lantern Mythos

If the pilot didn't establish the Hal and John dynamic well enough for you, then the opening sequence of this week's episode definitely will. Hal does his usual drill-sergeant thing by pouring a bucket of water on his trainee before dragging him out of bed to learn how to fly. Of course, Hal's lack of a training regimen doesn't do John any favors. “It’s supposed to be instinctual,” he tells the former Marine, but John just can't do it. Instead, John creates a small bird, which remains active even when Hal takes the ring back. But Hal isn't about to give a compliment, and instead books John on a flight back to Coast City to retrieve his power battery (and feed Earl). John isn't too happy about it, but it's not like training will go any further without a recharge. Hal only has one goal for John: keep the bird alive.

After his mentee leaves, Hal revisits the Rushville High football field and discovers a series of metal detectors that he hadn't clocked before. But these detectors don't detect metal — and Hal is curious about their true purpose. Thus, he heads back into town. The only problem is, Rushville is practically deserted, with everyone having gathered for a local town meeting — a meeting he clearly wasn’t invited to. In fact, the local American Legion outpost also has those same strange detectors. Characteristically, Hal interrupts the meeting with the assumption that the entire thing is about him anyway, but whether it is or isn't is inconsequential. Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) isn't too pleased with his arrival, clearly hoping to address the town's requests herself. Billy Macon (Jason Ritter) runs interference for his wife and informs Hal that his charges have been dropped — he’s free to leave Rushville. Naturally, Hal doesn't like being told what to do, but a call from John keeps him from causing any more of a scene.

In Coast City, John arrives at Hal’s home — a big empty mansion gifted by someone he once saved — and searches for the battery. The house is as empty as the streets of Rushville, though Hal insists that he actually lives there. Eventually, John finds Hal's room where his Green Lantern uniform hangs in the closet collecting dust. Lanterns offers us a very brief glimpse into John's supposed future (and certainly his psyche) as he holds the uniform to his chest to see how he might look. We're wondering too, but let's be honest, John's uniform should look a bit more like his traditional outfit rather than Hal's (in the comics, they both wore the same type of outfit at first before John forged his own identity). While John is playing dress-up, Hal wanders over to the Rushville morgue and steals the body of one of the aliens killed on the football field — with it, he discovers that the strange metal detectors around town are actually alien detectors. Go figure.

As for John, well, he finds the power battery in Hal's safe, which is actually a portal to a pocket dimension. Fun fact: the verbal password to Hal's safe — “Mogo doesn’t socialize” — is a reference to the living planet that has a ring of its own and is among the most powerful Green Lanterns in DC history. Who said Lanterns wasn't a celebration of lore? After retrieving both the battery and the Green Lantern uniform (despite Hal's protests), John feeds Earl, who turns out to be a carnivorous living alien plant that eats raw meat. But it's not until John tries to leave Hal's home that things get especially interesting. After walking out the door, John is abducted by several men who shove him into a truck and take him to their leader — but not before John puts up a serious fight, dodging cars on the interstate.

John Stewart Discovers a New Threat in 'Lanterns' Episode 2

Image via HBO

As John is getting abducted, Hal is none the wiser. After testing the first alien body, he's now stolen all four of the corpses before he is pulled over by Kerry. Brash and pigheaded as ever, Hal plans to just waltz up right to William Macon's (Garret Dillahunt) ranch and confront him about the bodies, the detectors, and why his men killed them at the football game. Kerry tries to dissuade the Green Lantern, explaining that if he appears with questions and attitude, things won't be so cordial as they were the night before. Still, Hal insists and so the sheriff decides to escort him to the ranch herself, but only if she can do the talking. Of course, Hal loves the sound of his own voice, so he tries to take control of the situation, only for Macon — who continues to cite his NDA as reason enough to evade Hal's questioning — to tell the superhero that he's no longer welcome on his property. When Hal pushes things too far, he's shot.

Meanwhile, John is brought before Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor), an alien outlaw who asks the GL-in-training about Manhunters. John hasn't a clue what Antaan is talking about, but the alien-in-disguise wants to recruit him to his cause anyhow. It's here that Lanterns offers some important exposition: Before the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians created the Manhunters to deal with the chaos in the galaxy. These synthetic beings were shapeshifters who could pass as anyone at any time. They annihilated plenty of civilizations, including Antaan's — a holocaust that he shows John through the use of some psychic device. After their tragedy, a Green Lantern (likely Abin Sur) was sent to capture and execute the Manhunter in question — only, Antaan's tech has discovered that the creature is still alive in America's heartland. Because Antaan and his forces cannot get into Rushville undetected, they need John to locate the Manhunter for them. If they don't get their prize, they'll blow up half of Nebraska.

While John is dealing with his own alien menace, Hal wakes up haunted by his own. In the hospital, the wounded Green Lantern finds himself cuffed to a hospital bed with Kerry sitting patiently at his bedside. Macon's sniper only fired a warning shot, but Hal is humbled (as humble as he can be) either way. Things get a bit more complicated, however, when Kerry asks about "Sinestro," a name Hal called out in his sleep. It's a bit of a trick question, as it's apparently public knowledge that Sinestro was a former Green Lantern who attempted a coup, killed a Guardian, and was ultimately taken down by Hal. Of course, the sheriff being able to pull all that information up with a quick Google search is a bit strange, right? Why would anyone on Earth know any of that if it all took place in space? Who knows, perhaps Sinestro's coup made it to Earth before Hal stopped him? Maybe he was searching for the Manhunter (or something else) too? Either way, Hal brushes it off, prompting the sheriff to once more assert her authority in Rushville, reminding him that she's on her own side, just trying to hold the town together.

Hal promises to stay out of trouble (not that we believe him), and we learn that Kerry is worried the town will become a powder keg if Macon stirs everyone's fears about invasion. As they leave the hospital, Hal makes a curious observation about the facility. For one thing, the sign-out sheet is completely blank except for his name. For another, there’s plenty of cutting-edge medical equipment that has never been touched. The scene ends with a brief reference to Kerry being from Gotham, but that's nowhere near as interesting as what the empty hospital may imply. Is everyone in Rushville an alien? Is everyone a Manhunter? It's unclear, but there's certainly something fishy in the water.

'Lanterns' Episode 2 Goes to Intergalactic Heights With Sinestro

Image via HBO Max

That night, John makes his way back to Rushville and stops at a local diner. After everything he went through between his two flights to California, he needed to clear his head. Naturally, that clarity is interrupted when he finds Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) there. He joins her in his booth, noting that he wouldn’t have slept with her if he knew she was married. "I'm glad you didn't," she replies before they go on about how her husband is a bit of a freak. But Zoe is clearly something of a freak too, because, despite her opinions of Macon and his beliefs (not to mention her willingness to sleep with John), she loves the wannabe cowboy/alien hunter anyway. Afterward, she drives John back to his motel, where he finds Hal waiting for him.

After a day full of revelations, Hal gets another when John asks about Manhunters. He's also forthcoming with Hal about everything that happened to him with Antaan, reminding him that the alien outlaw is willing to nuke the state if they don’t find the synthetic in 48 hours. Antaan's recruitment of John puts two and two together for Hal, who concludes that Abin Sur was killed by the missing Manhunter, which is how he got the ring in the first place. But none of that matters to John. What matters to him is that his construct is more advanced and impressive than anything we've seen Hal do, at least according to Antaan. Even so, Hal refuses to properly encourage his trainee, asking instead what's the deal with the bird. John refuses to answer, collapsing the construct instead.

After John retires for the night, Hal does something a bit unexpected. Putting on his Green Lantern uniform, he shoots into space, soaring to an undisclosed location in the galaxy where he enters a prison to confront his former ally, Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen). When Hal asks the former Green Lantern what he knows about Manhunters, the incarcerated traitor responds with a question of his own. “If one still existed, it would be the second-greatest threat you’re currently facing," Sinestro replies. "So why don’t you tell me about John Stewart?” If there's one thing this episode of Lanterns wants us to understand, it's that John Stewart is really, really important.

New episodes of Lanterns air Sundays on HBO.

• 

  Aaron Pierre

  John Stewart

• 

  Hal Jordan

Pros & Cons

• From Manhunters and Mogo to Sinestro himself, it looks like Lanterns may just go cosmic before this thing is done!
• Kyle Chandler looks great in a Green Lantern uniform.
• The action this week was a blast.

• I'm still not fully sold on Aaron Pierre's John Stewart. He's certainly more interesting apart from Hal, but he still comes off a bit stale compared to other adaptations of the character.