The first four episodes of HBO's DCU Lanterns series have been sent out to feature writers, and some details from the series premiere have now leaked online.
This has been verified by Reddit moderators and some X accounts have been hit with takedowns, so beware of major spoilers from this point on.
Seriously, this is a huge spoiler. Still here? Okay, you've been warned...
"Two timelines, 2016 and 2026. The main plot is the Lanterns looking for the Manhunters. Hal Jordan is killed at the end of episode 1."
Yes, it seems the theories that Hal Jordan will meet his end in the show were correct, although we can't imagine anyone would have predicted that he'd be checking out in the very first episode!
Like many comic book characters, Jordan has died and returned on the page, but something tells us this new live-action take on the hero's death will be permanent. The ring will pass to John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), who has been confirmed to make his big-screen debut in James Gunn's Man of Tomorrow.
This doesn't mean we'll only see Hal in one episode, as we're sure he'll be a regular fixture of the 2016 timeline.
As for the overall quality of these first four episodes, Jeff Sneider has had some very positive feedback, and noted that the worst reaction he heard was that the show was just "okay."
Kyle Chandler had the following to say about landing a key role in a superhero series at 60 years old during an interview with Men's Journal.
“The old man upstairs said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna give you a gift. He threw me a bone, and I chewed that thing all the way through. Before I went out, I decided I’m gonna have fun. Damn the torpedoes.”
Lanterns is set to debut on August 17 and will be available to stream on HBO Max.
HBO in association with Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios. The pilot episode 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. The series is executive produced by Mundy, Lindelof, James Gunn, Peter Safran, King, Ron Schmidt, and Hawes. Based on the DC comic characters from Green Lantern.
The series stars Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Laura Linney, Jason Ritter, Ulrich Thomsen, Nathan Fillion, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones.
The series follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
"This is a story of a couple of Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan," James Gunn said of the project when it was first announced. "We have a few other Lanterns peppered in there but this is really a terrestrial based TV show which is almost like True Detective with a couple of Green Lanterns who are space cops watching over Precinct Earth in it they discover a terrifying mystery that ties into our largest story of the DCU."