The Green Lanterns have been dormant on screen for 15 years. The last time audiences saw Hal Jordan was in the 2011 Ryan Reynolds film that effectively buried the character. HBO and DC Studios are ready to change that.
Lanterns debuted its most revealing trailer yet during DC Studios’ Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. Co-created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King, the series has been described from the start as a superhero take on True Detective, and the new footage leans all the way into that premise. Kyle Chandler plays Hal Jordan, a veteran Green Lantern and intergalactic cop with a chip on his shoulder, and Aaron Pierre plays John Stewart, the new recruit he is reluctantly tasked with training. Together they are drawn into a dark murder investigation in the heartland of Nebraska that quickly reveals itself to be far more sinister than it appears.
The trailer delivers on multiple fronts. The friction between Hal and John is immediate and entertaining, with one standout clip showing Hal tossing John a power ring while jumping out of a moving car, leaving his new partner to figure it out before the vehicle goes off a cliff. There is also a tease of Sinestro, played by Ulrich Thomsen, imprisoned in space and already playing mind games with Hal about what John really means to him. “He’s not my trainee, he’s my contingency,” Hal tells him. “You don’t believe he’s your back-up, do you Hal?” Sinestro fires back.
The full cast includes Jasmine Cephas Jones, Sherman Augustus, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Nicole Ari Parker, Kelly MacDonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Jason Ritter, Chris Coy and Paul Ben-Victor. The series is co-created by Mundy, Lindelof and King, with Mundy serving as showrunner. James Hawes directs the first two episodes. James Gunn and Peter Safran executive produce alongside Mundy, Lindelof, King, Ron Schmidt and Hawes.
For context, Lanterns is part of the new DC Universe that Gunn and Safran have been carefully constructing since taking over DC Studios. After Superman last year and Creature Commandos and Peacemaker before that, 2026 is the year their vision is truly coming into focus, with Supergirl, Clayface and now Lanterns all demonstrating a willingness to let each property breathe in its own genre and tone.
Lanterns premieres August 16 on HBO and streams on Max.