New Lanterns Theory Has DC Fans Hopeful That Episode 1’s Major Death Is Just a Distraction
This post contains SPOILERS for the Lanterns premiere
DC Studios’ Lanterns didn’t waste any time throwing a massive twist at audiences. After the first episode spent a majority of its run time in 2016, establishing Hal Jordan and John Stewart’s dynamic and the mystery of alien activity in Rushville, Nebraska, the series premiere jumps ahead to the present day, where John sees Hal’s frozen dead body in the football stadium bleachers. Examining the corpse, John notices Hal is missing his Green Lantern ring, setting the stage for more drama in the weeks to come. When taken at face value, it seems like the 2026 storyline of Lanterns‘ dual timelines will chronicle John’s attempt to uncover Hal’s murder. However, some fans aren’t convinced that Hal is actually dead.
On the DCU subreddit, a fan shared a theory suggesting that Hal could still be alive, citing evidence from the “Weeks Ahead” trailer HBO Max and DC posted following the premiere. The Reddit user points out that the dead alien body Hal takes from the morgue has a wound on his head in the same place Hal’s apparent corpse did at the end of Episode 1. Additionally, a skull that John is holding in the same trailer appears to have “a healed wound in a similar area.” These details have fans believing that it’s aliens that are being killed instead of Hal.
Could This Lanterns Fan Theory Be True?
At least one person in the Reddit thread notes “might be cope,” but the general takeaway is that DC fans want this theory to be true. Admittedly, it isn’t unfounded. Before Hal interrogates suspect Waylon Sanders, John mentions that there are 14 alien species that possess technology that allow them to pass as human. “MRIs, X-rays, blood work. Nothing down here can tell the difference,” John says, definitively establishing the DCU has shape-shifting extraterrestrials capable of fooling everyone on Earth. In the context of the scene, it’s simply a bit of dialogue designed to tell Sheriff Kerry Kane that Earth’s medical tests aren’t foolproof, but this feels like a specific plot point that could factor further into Lanterns as the season progresses.
If the theory is correct, the body John sees at the end of the premiere would be an alien disguised as Hal. Lending further credence to the theory is a brief bit in the “Weeks Ahead” trailer where Hal seems to be dragging the corpse from the morgue to the football stadium, implying that perhaps he planted the body there to make it appear as if he was dead as a means of throwing his enemies off the scent. It’s easy to see why DC fans are buying into the theory. Not only is there evidence that’s convincing enough, viewers don’t like the idea of a fan-favorite character like Hal Jordan being killed off in this manner. It’s clear that Hal isn’t going to be the DCU’s main human Green Lantern moving forward (Aaron Pierre is returning as John Stewart in Man of Tomorrow), but fans are hoping Hal gets a happier ending and can ride off into the sunset on a high note.
All that said, Lanterns has seemingly been setting the stage for Hal’s death for some time. Marketing materials featured Hal saying things John will only get the power ring “over my dead body,” planting a seed in viewers’ minds long before the first episode aired. Following the Lanterns premiere, co-creator Damon Lindelof explained the decision to kill Hal by saying “it focuses the show on John,” highlighting John’s importance to the narrative moving forward. Killing Hal off so early in Lanterns transforms the series from a True Detective-esque buddy cop sci-fi drama to a story about John fulfilling his destiny by proving himself worthy as a Green Lantern.
It will be interesting to see if this theory pans out or not, but regardless of what happens there, fans are going to be treated to plenty of Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan throughout the rest of the season. Hal is prominently featured in the “Weeks Ahead” trailer, so Lanterns will still be able to flesh out his dynamic with John in compelling ways even if Hal isn’t among the living in the present day. Hal could be relegated to the 2016 segments while John runs point in the 2026 sequences. There’s still a lot left to learn about the mysteries surrounding Lanterns, so the coming weeks should shed more light on everything.
