Lanterns ends with Hal Jordan dead at the hands of Sheriff Kerry, with the door firmly closed on any sort of resurrection for the former Green Lantern. He's neither a clone nor an alien in disguise; the Hal dead and buried in Rushville is the real deal.
Many fans would like to see his demise undone, and the series appeared to at least hint at it by having Sinestro claim he could bring Hal back to life by using the Halogram—a 2006 copy of the hero's consciousness—to do so. However, when John Stewart takes Hal's ring and says his new oath, Hal is seemingly wiped from the ring for good.
During John and the Halogram's final scene together, you might have noticed that the Hal stand-in calls his replacement "Junior." That's led to speculation about the 2006 version somehow acquiring his 2016 counterpart's memories so he might live to fight another day. Not so, according to Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy.
"We talked about this thing as a love story between these guys in a certain way, but one of them has to die in order for them to truly come together," he tells The Los Angeles Times. "Even over the course of the Halogram being in the show, he never called John 'Junior' ever. He always called him 'trainee.'"
"Until the last moment when he says ... 'I love you, too, Junior.' There’s something very bittersweet about the fact that the two people we spent all that time with don’t fully have their moment together."
While it's a touching scene, it also doesn't make a ton of sense given that the 2016/2026 Hal called John "Junior" in an insulting manner after meeting the former Marine's father, John Stewart Sr. However, the insinuation seems to be that the less jaded Hal might have used it in an affectionate way, meaning the 2026 Hal at least cared a little for his eventual replacement.
According to writer Tom King, Hal's past with Sinestro "damaged him," meaning "he was unable to see John for what he is and unable to listen to John the way he should. [With the Halogram] John finally encounters a Hal who hasn’t gone through that, and they can have conversations they couldn’t have before. John can start to feel the empathy that Hal denied him, and he can see Hal for who Hal really is."
Death rarely sticks in comics, and future seasons of Lanterns could find a way to bring Hal back from the dead. It doesn't seem overly likely based on comments from the creative team in other interviews, but James Gunn has surely taken note of the unhappiness among DC fans.
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.
Lanterns is now streaming in its entirety on HBO Max.