When Lanterns was first confirmed as being a major TV series for the DCU, it came with the surprising pitch that the show would be an Earth-set mystery in the vein of True Detective, featuring both Hal Jordan and John Stewart. That initial idea had some fans scratching their heads, since the intergalactic shenanigans of the Green Lantern Corps are one of the biggest selling points of the comics. How could a show do the Green Lanterns justice in live-action after years of waiting on a proper adaptation, only for the series to make a choice like that? Lanterns‘ first episode proved it had a lot up its sleeve, though, and plenty of surprises.
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In addition to Lanterns pulling off an origin twist by making Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan the Green Lantern for decades before the show begins, it delivered another surprise this week that probably shouldn’t have surprised anyone. After confirming that Jordan has been a superhero for years now, the show also revealed that plenty of stories have happened off-screen as a result, including major developments with Sinestro. As the series confirms, Hal and Sinestro have a connection, and now we know what it is he did and how it’s different from DC’s comics.
Sinestro’s Coup Changes Comic Lore
Lanterns reveals that after becoming a member of the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan was given a mentor to help train him…Sinestro, something that should sound familiar to longtime comic readers. The series then offers some broad strokes about their relationship, revealing Sinestro apparently attempted a coup against the Guardians of the Universe, and in doing so actually killed one of them. The only reason he was brought down, though, was because Jordan turned on him and was able to stop him. Specific details about that encounter or even how long it took, though, weren’t revealed.
An authoritarian turn like this for Sinestro is pretty in character, but in the pages of DC Comics it goes down a little differently. Sinestro’s original backstory has him using his Green Lantern ring to take over his home planet, Korugar, though he’s able to hide the fact that he’s ruling his world with an iron fist from the Guardians until Hal Jordan himself reveals it. The result is the same: Sinestro is kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps and put into a jail equivalent, and the same thing appears to have happened in Lanterns…somewhat.
Though it would be a little disappointing if a storyline like this one only played out off-screen in the DCU, it at the very least sets up the larger franchise for something else: Sinestro starting his own Corps of yellow lanterns, something that seems likely given his place in the world.
Hal’s Connection to Sinestro Gets Remixed Too
The second episode of Lanterns concludes with a moment that it has clearly been building to: a reunion of Hal Jordan and Sinestro on screen. Though the series has made it clear that the reason Sinestro is locked up is thanks to his former protege, it’s even more obvious that Jordan himself can’t shake their relationship and the feelings he has for his father figure that went bad.
As Hal Jordan retreats to Oa (or an unnamed Green Lantern Corps prison), he finds himself armed with the knowledge that the Manhunters might still be around. After walking around and opening a few doors, he comes face-to-face with none other than Sinestro, still alive and in captivity, only to question him for information about the Manhunters. It’s clear that they haven’t actually seen each other in a long time, maybe since Sinestro was imprisoned, prompting his former mentor to offer Jordan a quid pro quo: He’ll tell him about Manhunters, and he wants to know about John Stewart.
Though the scene of their reunion is brief, it does hint at a twist on their relationship for the show and the larger DCU. In the moment that Jordan makes contact with Sinestro behind bars, another pairing with similar circumstances is clearly being shaped, but not one with comic book influences.
The Hal and Sinestro moment we see is clearly more defined by Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter from Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon than by the pages of DC Comics. A former mentor turned captive, whose influence cannot fully be denied, it makes for a really distinct shift in Hal and Sinestro’s relationship for the DCU, and one that will allow for something unique in live-action.
