2026 is set to continue building on James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe – or DCU if you will – which began in later 2024 with the animated show Creature Commandos, followed by the rebooted universe’s first live action feature film, Superman, in June 2025, followed soon after by the second season of Peacemaker in August.
Next up is Supergirl, which is now mere months away from its June 26th release date and will mark the most cosmic entry in the DCU yet, though one would be forgiven for thinking that the following project to release, the HBO show Lanterns, would have been more space-bound than any other project, given that the Green Lanterns Corps is a literal intergalactic law enforcement order. This not the case, however, as Lanterns is to be a relatively grounded and gritty crime drama in the vein of True Detective and Slow Horses, and last week gave us the first extended look at this upcoming show, with some interesting moments and questions to go with them, most notably regarding Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner.
Created by Chris Mundy, Tom King, and the Damon Lindelof, Lanterns will center on two iconic members of the Green Lanterns, the grizzled and jaded veteran Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), and new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Piere) who is two months into his training with Hal. We know how long John has been in training because the first thing we hear in the trailer is him complaining to his mentor about it, to which Hal responds, “You’re just a fuckin’ substitute teacher. You’re not ready to get up in front of the class until the ring says you are,” before laying the famous Power Ring on the dash of the car and leaping out of the moving vehicle, leaving John to drive off a cliff with only the ring.
Of course, the following sequence shows an unscathed Steward walking up to a sardonically clapping Hal, indignantly telling him, “I could have died,” which the veteran shakes off, chalking it up to the training he asked for. This likely takes place in the opening episode of the show, and serves to depict the undeniable tension between the two Lanterns, who are clearly not fond of one another, and the trailer certainly strives to highlight the ongoing friction between them throughout the show, with certain lines hinting that John might have even been chosen to take over for Hal. We also get a look Kelly McDonald’s character, a sheriff who has an unpleasant history with Hal and thus hates his guts, as well as what appears to be an official Green Lantern outfit hanging in a closet (which, interestingly, features more brown than green), and we even get to see Hal take flight and John holding a Power Battery.
However, potentially the most note-worthy moment in the entire trailer is where Hal, when asked by John if he has ever spoken with other Lanterns, tells the rookie, “I’m the only human. They’re aliens.” This is of particular interest because, as far as we know, there is another human Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, who has already appeared in Superman and Peacemaker’s second season, and Nathan Fillion is already confirmed to appear in the show, which begs the question as to why Hal would make such a statement in the first place?
There are a number of possibilities here. One may be that Hal despises Guy enough to not even consider him a true member of the Green Lantern Corps, as Guy certainly has a knack for rubbing people the wrong way, and given that the DCU’s Hal can clearly be prickly and reckless, it’s not difficult to imagine the two despising one another.
Another possible reason for Hal’s comment is that Guy is for some reason out of commission for an extended period, and thus John is being trained to replace him and not Hal, which would explain why Hal previously called John a “substitute teacher.” While certain lines in the trailer might challenge this theory, there is precedent to this as Lanterns have had temporary replacements in the comics before, but nonetheless we still lack enough context to do anything more than speculate.
The final reason could simply be that Guy gets killed off and John is his tentative replacement, though this would be a surprising development as James Gunn has made no secret of the fact that Guy Gardner is his favourite of all the Green Lanterns. As such, it is difficult to imagine that Gunn would allow him to be killed off somewhat unceremoniously, not to mention the DCU is still in its youth and one would have to imagine that the writer, director, and studio head has more plans for his beloved douchebag.
Whatever the case, we will find out once Lanterns begins airing at an unspecified date in August on Crave, but given that the first trailer is labeled a “teaser”, we will likely see one more full-length trailer in the meantime, and perhaps that will shed more light on Guy Gardner’s role in the show.