UPDATE: Talking of Hal Jordan, HBO Max has just shared a gallery of photos from last Sunday's episode of Lanterns, showcasing his DCU superhero costume. This much closer look at the suit has reignited the debate over DC Studios' decision to give members of the Green Lantern Corps physical costumes they have to dress in, rather than those generated by their rings.
The series premiere of DC Studios' Lanterns ended with John Stewart discovering Hal Jordan's dead body in 2026. His ring was missing, and he'd been shot in the head, raising some big questions about what he was doing back in Nebraska and who's responsible.
Fan theories have dominated the conversation since then, with the main one being that it isn't really Hal. Instead, the hope is that one of the Manhunters or another alien capable of disguising themself as a human has, for some reason, taken the hero's place.
That would explain why the ring didn't seek out John Stewart, especially as a clip from Sunday's episode has confirmed he was the Guardians of the Universe's first choice to protect Earth as its Green Lantern.
A new promo for Lanterns has just been released, and right at the end, there's a very interesting shot of the 2026 Hal waking up in what may be a prison uniform. It doesn't match what Sinestro was wearing in space, so they haven't switched places or anything like that, but this still lends some weight to theories that Hal is alive and locked up somewhere.
Of course, even if Hal is alive, it begs the question of what his role in the DCU is moving forward. We know John will become Green Lantern in time for next summer's Man of Tomorrow, so is Hal just going to retire? Or will DC Studios follow the comics and have him head down a villainous route as Parallax? It's also worth noting that this could be a scene from the hours leading up to his very real death.
"I think just Damon [Lindelof] basically said the most meaningful thing that could happen would be if Hal had died," showrunner Chris Mundy previously explained. "What else do we care about more than that? And then it instantly felt like that would be incredible to get to try to write to, if the powers that be were willing to let us write to it."
Co-creator Tom King added that both Hal's death and his missing ring "raise the stakes" and "has consequences that reverberate throughout the rest of the universe for a long time."
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 first two episodes of Lanterns are now streaming on HBO Max.