HBO Max has unveiled the official trailer for DC Studios' Lanterns during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con featuring stars Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, and co-creators Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King.
Previous trailers were somewhat lacking, but there's plenty of Green Lantern action in this sneak peek, with some cosmic, mind-bending imagery and a trip into outer space for a meeting between Hal Jordan and the imprisoned Sinestro.
The biggest reveal here is that Hal and John Stewart will be facing off with the Manhunters. In the comics, they were the Guardians of the Universe's first attempt at creating an interstellar police force that could combat evil all over the cosmos.
However, this trailer makes a point of describing them as shapeshifters, leading many fans to wonder whether there's a connection between them and Mars' shapeshifting Martians. Does this link them to J'onn J'onzz, a.k.a. Martian "Manhunter," or have they just been reimagined for the DCU? We'll find out next month, but it certainly doesn't look like they're robots here.
There's still no obvious sign of the show's 2026 timeline, and with Hal aware that John is his replacement, it's hard to shake the feeling that we're about to see the Green Lantern Corps veteran perhaps head down the same villainous path as his comic book counterpart.
Kyle Chandler recently told Entertainment Weekly that he's been speaking to "Green Lantern historians" to prepare for Lanterns, noting, "I’ll tell you what, you can find them everywhere. You can find them in bars, you can find them in restaurants. All your friends that you never knew were Green Lantern historians, they come out of the woodwork."
Check out the new Lanterns trailer in the players below.
Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
Alongside Kyle Chander and Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Nicole Ari Parker, Jason Ritter, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones round out the cast.
The pilot is co-written by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, who are co-creators for the series. Mundy serves as showrunner. The first two episodes are directed by James Hawes, with Stephen Williams, Geeta Vasant Patel and Alik Sakharov also tapped to direct.
Lanterns is executive produced by Mundy, Lindelof, James Gunn, Peter Safran, King, Ron Schmidt, and Hawes, and is based on the DC comic characters from Green Lantern.
Lanterns is set to premiere on HBO on August 16.