A Major Green Lantern Character Officially Makes Their DCU Debut, And Lanterns Confirms a Huge Change

September 20, 2026, 10:01pm

Even before Lanterns arrived, it was a long time coming for fans of Hal Jordan. Though the character had been realized in live-action by Ryan Reynolds for the 2011 movie, that take has been the only one for over a decade (and even Reynolds has lambasted it in the time since). When Lanterns premiered, it revealed that the version played by Kyle Chandler in the DCU wouldn’t be one that we’d watch from humble beginnings to superheroics, debuting instead as an active superhero for decades at that point in the show’s story. That gave way to a version of Hal that has been firmly established, leaving no room for characters like Abin Sur to be seen on screen (though he gets talked about plenty).

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The implication of Hal Jordan’s history in the DCU has been something worth dissecting across the series. We’ve seen his home and the barren lifestyle that he leads; at one point, he even made it clear how lonely his life has been as a superhero/Green Lantern. Some fans took that to mean that major characters from the pages of DC Comics may not appear, but this week’s episode flipped the script and went the other way. As John Stewart is prepping to have a funeral for Hal Jordan in the episode, he gets interrupted by a surprise DC character, as Carol Ferris makes her first appearance in the DCU.

DCU Carol Ferris Makes Her Debut in Lanterns

It would be easy to have been taken by surprise by the arrival of Carol Ferris in Lanterns since the casting was never confirmed or even teased, so when actress Amie MacKenzie (previously seen in shows like Better Call Saul and Monster) makes her debut, and John Stewart immediately knows who she is…it’s a shocker.

Though her screen time is short, it carries a punch and major implications about the character’s place in the larger DCU. When she arrives, she notes that Sheriff Kane reached out to her and invited her to the funeral, summarizing her relationship with Hal as just “history” that Kane was aware of. Carol then makes a very pointed remark about Hal too, saying, “The only friendship that stuck was the one on his finger.”

We can surmise from these very pointed pieces of dialogue that, yes, Carol Ferris and Hal Jordan previously had a relationship in the DCU at some point, but one that clearly didn’t stick and fell apart in some way. It seems unlikely that their history is deep enough in the DCU for Carol’s time as a Star Sapphire from the comics to have occurred, not because they explicitly say it didn’t, but because there’s nothing to indicate it at all.

Ferris’ closeness with Hal is revealed somewhat, though, as she has brought Hal’s eulogy (which he wrote himself) to be read at his funeral, asking John to do the honors. She also makes it clear how well she knew this version of Hal with her last line, telling Stewart: “I bet he liked you, John, and I also bet he never said it.”

Fans of Carol and Hal from DC Comics may very well be surprised by her inclusion this week and the implications that have come from her arrival in the DCU. In the pages of the source material, the pair have been on-and-off romantic partners for years, even through her heel-turn as Star Sapphire. What the DCU makes clear is that the “off” part of their romantic relationship has seemingly been the defining side of the coin in this version.

One can’t say for certain based on this one scene whether this means we’ll ever see more of Ferris in the DCU, or if her potential place in the universe as a Star Sapphire is off the table, but her brief appearance in this week’s episode seems to indicate there are no real plans for Ferris after this moment. That said, there are two episodes left, and fan theories are flying fast that Jordan isn’t really dead (despite a body in a casket this week).