HBO’s big superhero show of the moment returns this Sunday for its third episode. Lanterns stars Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, Earth’s one and only Green Lantern, and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, his understudy and grudging trainee. The two find themselves enmeshed in a cosmic conspiracy involving nefarious ranchers, mysterious aliens and murder most foul.
The mysteries have been building since the series premiere, and last week’s episode left us in outer-space with another big cliffhanger.
Read on for everything you need to know about Lanterns, including the full Season 1 release schedule and what to expect from the show and the DCU going forward. Also be sure to check out everything else releasing this weekend in my friendly neighborhood streaming guide.
What Time Does ‘Lanterns’ Episode 3 Release On HBO Max In The US?
The third episode of Lanterns drops this Sunday simultaneously across time zones. Here’s what time you can catch tonight’s episode depending on where you live:
| Time zone | Episode 3 Time |
|---|---|
| Eastern | 9:00 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 |
| Central | 8:00 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 |
| Mountain | 7:00 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 |
| Pacific | 6:00 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 |
| Alaska | 5:00 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 |
| Hawaii | 3:00 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 |
Each episode of Lanterns will run roughly an hour. The Season 1 premiere (titled “Pilot”) clocked in at 57 minutes. Tonight’s episode, “OutKast”, runs just 54 minutes. Leaks suggest the following episode, “Weenie” will run 52 minutes.
The remaining four episode titles and runtimes have not been leaked.
Watch ‘Lanterns’ Episode 3 Trailer
What Time Does ‘Lanterns’ Episode 3 Release Internationally?
For international audiences, it gets a bit more complicated. Here’s when and where you can watch Lanterns when it drops this weekend in various international markets.
| Market | Time | Where to watch |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Sunday, August 30 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT | HBO and HBO Max |
| Canada | Sunday, August 30, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT | Crave |
| United Kingdom | Monday, August 31, 2 a.m. BST | HBO Max, Sky Atlantic, Now TV |
| India | Monday, August 31, 6:30 a.m. IST | JioHotstar |
| Singapore | Monday, August 31, 9 a.m. SGT | HBO Max |
| Australia | Monday, August 31, 11 a.m. AEST | HBO Max |
| New Zealand | Monday, August 31, 1 p.m. NZST | HBO Max |
Is ‘Lanterns’ Releasing All At Once?
As with most HBO and HBO Max TV shows, Lanterns releases weekly each Sunday for a total of eight weeks.
Here’s the full release schedule for all eight episodes of Lanterns on HBO and HBO Max:
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sunday, Aug. 16 |
| 2 | Sunday, Aug. 23 |
| 3 | Sunday, Aug. 30 |
| 4 | Sunday, Sept. 6 |
| 5 | Sunday, Sept. 13 |
| 6 | Sunday, Sept. 20 |
| 7 | Sunday, Sept. 27 |
| 8 (finale) | Sunday, Oct. 4 |
What Is ‘Lanterns’ About?
The official logline reads: “Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery with cosmic ties as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.”
The two are drawn to Rushville, Nebraska, to investigate a murder. The season runs on dual timelines: a 2016 timeline in which Hal trains John, which so far has taken up the bulk of the story, and a present-day 2026 investigation set roughly a year after the events of Superman and Peacemaker Season 2.
Chris Mundy (Ozark), Damon Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen), and comics writer Tom King co-created the series and executive produce, with Mundy serving as showrunner. The supporting cast includes Kelly Macdonald as a local sheriff, Garret Dillahunt and Jason Ritter as father and son William and Billy Macon, Poorna Jagannathan, Laura Linney, Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, and Nathan Fillion reprising Guy Gardner from Superman.
What’s Happened So Far In ‘Lanterns’ Season 1?
So far, Lanterns is essentially a murder/conspiracy mystery wrapped in Green Lantern mythology, unfolding mainly in Rushville, Nebraska in 2016, with glimpses of a much darker future.
Episode 1 “Pilot”: Veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) is reluctantly training former soldier John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) as his potential replacement. A cryptic warning from a backup “Halogram” stored in Hal’s ring sends them to Rushville, where a mass shooting at a high-school football game appears to have an extraterrestrial connection. They capture a man who turns out to be an alien; during interrogation he reveals that hostile forces are operating on Earth before blowing himself up. The pair also meet Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) and her wealthy, deeply suspicious father-in-law William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), who possesses an unusual amount of knowledge about aliens. Then comes the big twist: the story jumps to 2026, when John returns to Rushville and finds Hal dead in the football bleachers. His Green Lantern ring is missing.
Episode 2 “Trust Fall”: Back in 2016, Hal continues John’s extremely unconventional training. John demonstrates potentially extraordinary abilities when he creates a small green bird construct that somehow continues existing even after he no longer has the ring. John is then abducted by a group led by an alien named Antaan, who tells him about the Manhunters—ancient synthetic predecessors to the Green Lantern Corps capable of disguising themselves as other species. Antaan believes a Manhunter responsible for annihilating his people is now hiding in human form somewhere in Rushville, and that Hal may know more about it than he’s admitting.
Meanwhile, Hal discovers that Macon has installed advanced alien-detection technology around town. When Hal confronts him about where he got it, in typical Hal fashion, one of Macon’s men shoots Hal. After a brief stay in a very creepy hospital (unsettlingly empty) Hal and John reunite. John ultimately tells Hal everything Antaan revealed, despite being warned not to. The episode ends with Hal traveling off-world, in his Lantern super-suit, to question his imprisoned former mentor, Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen). Before the credits roll, Sinestro warns Hal: if a Manhunter really survives, it’s only the second-biggest threat Hal is facing. He then asks him about John Stewart.
This leaves us with a number of big questions.
As of now, the big mysteries are: Who is the Manhunter? It has to be someone (or more than one) person in Rushville and it’s almost certainly somebody we met. What is Macon involved in and who is his mysterious benefactor? What makes John apparently so unusually powerful? What does Sinestro know about him? And, ultimately, who kills Hal and takes his ring in 2026?
Related to that last mystery: why does Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) have the ring in the modern timeline (which we know is true because of Superman and Peacemaker) and how is it all connected?
I’m reviewing this series each week, and so far I have mixed feelings. It’s not bad, but it’s a little slow at times. While I enjoy a good slow burn, I’m still not invested enough in the characters or the story and I think the show could have done a better job hooking non-Green Lantern fans in a little better, even if some of these mysteries are certainly fun. Links to my written and video recaps below:
Why ‘Lanterns’ Is A Big Deal For The DCU
So far, James Gunn’s DCU has been off to a rocky start. Superman was a hit, even though I found it a pretty mid-tier superhero movie, and Supergirl was a box office bomb thanks to its “scriptonite” as my colleague Paul Tassi so cleverly put it.
Peacemaker Season 2 is the best thing that DC has released since Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios. If they can pull this off, combining the gritty detective mystery and intrigue of True Detective with superhero shenanigans and a more cosmic plot, this could be exactly what the DCU needs to get back on its footing. I’ll be reviewing the series, so look for my episodic recaps every week. The show’s RT score has gone up to 94% from 90% last week, so they’re doing something right.
Then again, even if this is as good or better than Peacemaker, two mature live-action TV shows won’t be enough to revive DC at movie theaters, especially when the next movie coming to the big screen is hardly a family-friendly affair.
What’s Next For The DCU After ‘Lanterns’?
Clayface
Credit: Warner Bros
Clayface lands in movie theaters just weeks after the Lanterns October 4 finale. The movie hits the big screen on October 23. The movie is set in the Gotham universe, with Clayface one of the lesser-known and more terrifying Batman villains. The R-rated film is supposed to be quite scary, with body horror, violence and some nudity. This is more along the lines of The Penguin than Superman, and while I’m a huge fan of all things Gotham, hopefully Gunn can deliver on the lighthearted DC stuff sooner than later. Man Of Tomorrow, the sequel to Superman, comes out in July of 2027, with the next Batman film slated for 2028.
Aaron Pierre has been confirmed as part of the cast for Man Of Tomorrow, but so far there’s no apparent connection between Lanterns and Clayface.
What About ‘Lanterns’ Season 2?
While there’s no official renewal confirmation from HBO — the network appears to be waiting to see how the first season performs — the work has already begun on a follow-up. Lindelof confirmed that Mundy has already started a new writing room to brainstorm future seasons. Who returns in the cast and behind the scenes, if the show is renewed, remains to be seen. Lindelof is moving on to other projects, and reports suggest Christopher Cantwell could join as co-showrunner going forward.
Either way, it sounds like Season 1 will tell a complete story with a beginning, middle and an end, so even if this ends up being a one-season outing, we won’t have to deal with an unfinished story.
Are you looking forward to Lanterns? Be sure to check back on this blog and on my YouTube channel for my review of episode 2 this evening!
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