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Of all the superheroes to give the gritty realism treatment, the Green Lantern is an odd choice. Tasked with enforcing intergalactic order with a magic ring bestowed by a group of blue aliens (before the Na’avi, there
were the Guardians), the character occupies the opposite end of the tonal spectrum from Bruce Wayne stalking the streets of Gotham City sans powers. The larger DC Universe, as creatively overseen by the filmmaker James Gunn, already skews in a goofier, more cartoonish direction that embraces the inherent silliness of classic comics; last year’s “Superman” featured an appearance by a Green Lantern, Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, as de facto comic relief, with an atrocious bowl cut to match.
But the HBO drama “Lanterns” is just that: an HBO drama. And while the prestigious network has made some concessions to our current era of IP, airing multiple “Game of Thrones” spinoffs and prior DC productions like “The Penguin,” there are still limits in place. “Peacemaker,” a Gunn-led series that fits squarely within the producer’s established style, remains a product of online-only service HBO Max — a branding distinction that’s illegible to the average streaming subscriber but significant nonetheless.
“Lanterns,” on the other hand, is an easily traceable composite of earlier HBO releases. Its wry humor and grounded fantasy recall “Watchmen,” the 2019 series that marked the platform’s initial toe dip into superhero stories; sure enough, “Watchmen” boss Damon Lindelof is one of three credited co-creators on “Lanterns.” The title characters, 2016-era Lantern Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and his trainee John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), are mismatched partners in (space) law enforcement whose fraught relationship plays out over a split timeline, á la “True Detective.” Lo and behold, “Lanterns” co-creator and showrunner Chris Mundy worked on that anthology’s most recent season, as well as other crime shows (“Ozark,” the Chandler-starring “Bloodline”) known for a color palette as gloomy as their mood. (Frequent DC Comics writer Tom King completes the trifecta.)
It’s of course common for comic book media to take inspiration from other genres, the way “WandaVision” paid homage to vintage sitcoms. Yet “Lanterns” is unusually direct in assembling its components, down to the typecasting of its leads. As the burnt-out Hal, an aging maverick forced to stare his own redundancy in the face, Chandler is back to playing a middle-aged mentor with folksy charm and a Texas twang. (Some of Hal’s pivotal scenes even play out on a high school football field, lest one miss the parallels to “Friday Night Lights.”) Pierre’s Stewart is taciturn, imposing and responds to an endless series of irritants with a steely reserve punctuated by bursts of controlled violence. That doubles as a description of Pierre’s breakout role in the action film “Rebel Ridge,” down to the premise of an ex-Marine spending time in an unfriendly small town against their will.
This particular small town is Rushville, Nebraska, where Hal and John pause their bickering to investigate a shooting Hal’s gut tells him has an extraterrestrial element, putting the incident in the Lanterns’ jurisdiction. (Hal’s a big fan of vibes-based decisionmaking.) He’s right, much to the annoyance of local sheriff Kerry (Kelly Macdonald, back on HBO more than a decade after “Boardwalk Empire”), an exasperated woman with an accent just a few clicks to the left of Marge Gunderson. But “Lanterns” doesn’t bloom into Technicolor CGI when the aliens show up.
Instead, these visitors take on human form, including a Guardian who bears a striking resemblance to “Ozark” star Laura Linney. It’s part of a suite of aesthetic choices that keep “Lanterns” on Earth in more ways than one. Hal almost never wears his suit, a symptom of his disillusionment that also lets him sport a more understated brown jacket. He’s the first-ever human Lantern, but the only other ringbearer we meet is Hal’s disgraced mentor Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), who could pass for homo sapiens apart from his pointy ears. Because John doesn’t wear the ring full-time yet, the pair has to accommodate his lack of flight and travel by car. (Though Hal likes to punk John by jumping out, leaving his younger companion to think fast or suffer the consequences.) There are flashes of the Lanterns’ typical terrain, like the flesh-eating plant Hal keeps for a pet, but they’re always brief.
If “Lanterns” excises so much of what characterizes this corner of the DC Universe, then what exactly is the show’s interest in the Green Lantern? The answer turns out to be the nature of a position that’s assigned rather than assumed. There’s no external committee to decide whether Clark Kent deserves to be Superman; he simply is. Not so with the Lanterns, whose appointment by the Guardians raises all kinds of questions about worthiness and what really constitutes “earning” one’s ring.
This dual character study is where “Lanterns” is at its best. Chandler and Pierre may be squarely in their comfort zones, but that also puts them in a position to succeed. It’s especially gratifying to see Pierre fulfill the promise of the rising action star announced by “Rebel Ridge” after some detours into animation work and whatever “The Morning Show” is. An episode dedicated to John’s backstory, including a childhood raised by parents (Jasmine Cephas Jones and J. Alphonse Nicholson) obsessed with cultivating their own son into a perfect job candidate for the Guardians, is a highlight. Like “Watchmen,” “Lanterns” wants to consider the specific burdens and significance of the Black superhero. Its conclusions don’t land with the same force as its predecessor’s, but they’re also not positioned as a twist or reveal in the same way. Race is simply weaved into John’s reality alongside his talent for hand-drawing and passion for birds — particularly in how it feels to practice extreme self-discipline while forced to play second fiddle to an arrogant, less qualified white guy.
Hal loves to tell the story of how he got the ring: a disembodied voice trapped him in a green bubble, asked if he was afraid and rewarded him when he said “no.” What “Lanterns” posits is that fearlessness — a quality John’s parents also worked to inculcate with horrifying, William Tell-style tests of his resolve — may not be an ideal quality to incentivize. By Hal’s own admission, his bravery comes from having nothing to lose. His dad, a fighter pilot, died when he was a child; one of the few nuggets of wisdom he offers John is not to form any meaningful relationships while he’s a Lantern. Much of Hal’s personality has been molded to fit Chandler’s distinct charisma, but the bitter edge feels new. What comes off as cavalier risk-taking is really a cover for something much more nihilistic.
Pierre and Chandler do their best to banish the ghosts of Marty and Rust from the first season of “True Detective,” and even if they don’t entirely succeed (the many scenes of them squabbling on the road are just too direct a reference), they do give Hal and John a prickly and specific chemistry. The title “Lanterns,” plural, hints at the source of their tension. There’s only supposed to be one Green Lantern per planet at any given time, making John’s very presence in Hal’s life a personal affront he repays with the demanding nickname “Junior.” Whether John is Hal’s sidekick, deputy or replacement, the one thing he can’t be is a true partner.
But this solid core is nested inside a less singular package. As the plot narrows into a search for a Manhunter, a murderous species whose vaunted ability to blend in is somewhat muted by every other alien having the same ability, each Lantern gets assigned a love interest. Hal flirts with Kerry; John has an affair with Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), the wife of William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), a local cattle mogul whose compound has more high tech weaponry than a mere human would seem to need. Pierre and Jagannathan’s scenes have a charge enhanced by their characters’ age gap and frank conversations about navigating the overwhelmingly white Rushville. Kerry and Hal are the more perfunctory pairing, their connection more talked about than shown. Neither dalliance threatens the primacy of the true central relationship.
Watching “Lanterns,” you never escape the sense that the show is a piece of high-profile IP taking on the guise of a prestige drama, the way the Manhunter disguises itself among the cornfields. Not only is the show overt about its influences to the point where it can’t transcend them; it’s also a mix of shoe-leather investigation and glowing green lasers that never stops clashing. When Hal alludes to a planet of squirrels, it pierces the Rushville bubble of diners and motels. When the Guardians get in touch, you’re aware they have bigger fish to fry than our “galactic backwater.” At least there’s never long to wait until Chandler and Pierre are once again trading barbs, the place where “Lanterns” is most palpably in its preferred groove.
“Lanterns” will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on Aug. 16 at 9 p.m. ET, with remaining episodes airing weekly on Sundays.
