Lanterns Premiere Review: Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre form a winning pair in confident DC series

Armed with a trio of terrific storytellers in Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, Lost), Tom King and Chris Mundy, Lanterns is a confident procedural that brings something different to the DC Universe. Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre have tremendous chemistry as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, with their contrasting personalities driving much of the series. Set primarily in a small Nebraska town and unfolding across two timelines, the central mystery slowly reveals its key players and hints at larger stakes. Lanterns takes its time getting there, but strong performances, compelling character work and an intriguing mystery make the journey worthwhile.

Lanterns Overview

The Pilot starts with surprisingly grounded stakes, allowing it to establish Hal and John’s uneasy partnership before expanding into its central mystery. They investigate a mass shooting at a Nebraska high school football game, which quickly proves to be more than it seems. The episode wisely keeps Green Lantern constructs to a minimum and primarily uses them to reveal pieces of Hal’s personality. He casually creates a bottle opener and some cash for a jukebox, showing how differently he approaches wielding the ring.

Chandler and Pierre are excellent, but Chandler delivers some of his best work since Friday Night Lights. His Hal is older, grizzled and weary of the responsibility, with an eccentric streak masking instincts that remain incredibly sharp. He also isn’t quite ready to hand his ring over to John, despite the corp choosing him as his successor.

John, meanwhile, has seemingly prepared for this responsibility his entire life. Pierre brings a Marine’s discipline and rigid sense of duty to the role. That makes him an ideal counterweight to Hal’s unconventional methods and willingness to bend the rules. Lanterns wisely keeps their relationship at the center, and Chandler and Pierre are electric throughout the episode.

After an amusing training exercise, Hal heads to a small Nebraska town near where his ring originally chose him. Suspecting alien involvement in the shooting, he identifies a prime suspect while clashing with Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald). Hal’s unusual tactics eventually land him in jail before William Macon (Garret Dillahunt) arranges for his release.

Dinner at the Macon family compound becomes awkward when John realizes William’s wife, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), is his recent one-night stand. The hilarious exchange afterward also becomes the first moment when Hal appears to take a liking to John.

The pilot closes with a harrowing interrogation between Hal and the suspected alien. It’s a terrific sequence that highlights Hal’s experience and reminds John why the veteran Lantern remains so formidable.

Lanterns is streaming on HBO Max.

Two Lanterns

The most compelling conflict in Lanterns comes from Hal and John having fundamentally different ideas about what makes someone worthy of the ring. John has spent much of his life preparing for this opportunity, while Hal seems almost amused by the idea that anyone could prepare for it.

That difference becomes clear during Hal’s unconventional training exercise. John reminds Hal that the Guardians chose him, yet Hal has barely allowed him to use the ring. Hal responds by placing the ring on the dashboard before jumping out of their moving car and leaving John to save himself.

John survives by wrapping the vehicle in bubble wrap, which Hal finds ridiculous. However, the exercise reveals exactly what Hal wants to learn about his successor.

That recklessness clashes with everything John brings to the job. His military background has taught him to rely on preparation, discipline and procedure when circumstances become dangerous. Hal operates almost entirely on instinct, embracing uncertainty because decades as a Lantern have taught him that fear cannot always be avoided.

Their paths to the ring help explain that divide. John grew up watching Hal become a celebrated hero and has spent years working toward an opportunity like this. Hal was simply chosen and then forced to figure out what being a Green Lantern meant along the way.

Neither approach is presented as entirely correct. John needs Hal’s experience, but Hal also needs someone willing to challenge habits that have hardened into recklessness. Their disagreements over fear, responsibility and what the ring represents give their partnership considerably more depth than the typical veteran-and-rookie dynamic.

Hail in Nebraska

For all of Hal’s eccentric behavior, the pilot makes it clear that decades as a Green Lantern have sharpened his instincts. His methods often appear foolish, but there is usually a purpose behind the chaos.

The bar fight is perhaps the best early example. Hal repeatedly plays the same song on the jukebox, deliberately irritating the locals until someone confronts him. Starting a pointless fight seems like another reckless decision, especially when Hal removes his ring and allows himself to get pummeled.

John soon realizes Hal knows exactly what he is doing. Sheriff Kerry Kane refuses to give Hal access to his prime suspect, so Hal finds another way inside. Getting arrested puts him exactly where he wants to be: in the same jail as the man he believes is an alien.

That leads to one of the pilot’s best scenes. Hal initially tests the suspect with questions about Nebraska football, which he answers without much difficulty. He then changes tactics and asks questions about subjects almost any human would recognize, including Harry Potter.

The suspect knows information connected to his assumed identity but struggles when Hal moves beyond those carefully prepared details. Hal recognizes that an alien trying to pass as human would study enough local information to convincingly blend into the community.

Chandler is terrific throughout the interrogation because Hal never needs to explain how quickly he is putting everything together. His confidence grows with each answer until his suspicions are confirmed.

The sequence also changes how we view Hal’s earlier behavior. What initially looks like recklessness is often experience operating several steps ahead of everyone else.

Hal might be weary of carrying the ring, but his instincts remain as sharp as ever.

Lanterns Premiere Final Thoughts

Lanterns succeed because the showrunners understand that Green Lantern is about more than cosmic spectacle and increasingly elaborate constructs. The pilot focuses on Hal and John, making their complicated partnership the foundation for everything else.

That approach might disappoint viewers expecting the DC Universe to immediately embrace the cosmic possibilities of the Green Lantern Corps. However, it works for a prestige HBO drama.

More importantly, Chandler and Pierre give Lanterns two compelling characters capable of carrying its deliberately paced mystery. Chandler brings tremendous personality to an older Hal who appears increasingly exhausted by the responsibility he has carried for decades. Pierre matches him with a more disciplined John who believes he is ready, even if Hal remains unconvinced.

The Nebraska mystery, spread across two timelines, is intriguing, but the pilot wisely avoids revealing too much about what is actually happening. Instead, it provides enough strange details and suspicious characters to make its larger conspiracy worth following.

That restraint makes Lanterns one of the more distinctive projects in the new DC Universe. Rather than overwhelming its characters with superhero spectacle, the series trusts its mystery, its performers and two very different Green Lanterns to carry the story.

So far, that confidence feels entirely without fear.