Lanterns has become a mainstream breakout hit, that is redefining what a superhero TV show can be. Instead of a sci-fi/fantasy world filled with power rings and, aliens deep lore about the “emotional spectrum” of light, Lanterns has been an intense character study of the men wearing the ring, done in the style of HBO’s equally landmark cop drama, True Detective.
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The formula has worked: as Lanterns approaches its Seasoon Finale it has both the ratings and buzz needed to easily justify a second season. Since the summer there have been rumors about production already starting on Season 2, and a potential change in the show’s creative team. However, no mattter who crafts the next season of Lanterns, the show needs to continue following True Detective‘s conceptual lead, if it wants to keep things fresh and exciting for fans.
Lanterns Needs to Follow The True Detective Anthology Format
True Detective became a hit when its first season premiered on HBO, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. However, the show has boldly gone with an anthology format, switching lead characters, time periods, and locations with each season.
There was an early period during Lantern’s development where the series was going to do just that: Each season would focus on a different DC character who has served as Green Latern, including Alan Scott (the Golde Age GL), Hal Jordan (Silver Age) and the modern characters like John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Jessica Cruz. Now that Lanterns has carved out its place as a very unique take on superhero lore, it can get away with switching protagonists, settings, and even some stylistic and tonal changes.
The core formula of the show would be having two (or more) Green Lanterns (or a Lantern and another hero) investigating a case – one that triggers personal issues and/or history for both of the “cops.” While it will be jarring to some audience members who want more of the same flavor, the risk could pay off in several big ways.
First, exploring different Green Lanterns in each season is a great way to quickly establish the larger Green Lantern corps and all of the human characters who have joined its ranks. Each of those characters comes with their own lore that is a piece of the larger Green Lantern Corps saga. Alan Scott (the first Green Lantern) is a character with entirely different lore: his battery and ring are not connected to the Guardiands or the Lantern Corps, and story that is directly connected to DC’s Golden Age super team, the Justice Society of America. The JSA has already been established in the DC Universe via a mural shown in Superman, so even if Lanterns has made it difficult, there is still room for those cross connections to be made.
Then there are the Green Lantern characters who may be newer, or never really freatured in any live-action or animated adaptation. That includes engineer Simon Baz, Jessica Cruz, and Sojourner Mullein from the Far Sector miniseries, a highly-acclaimed sci-fi murder-mystery. Green Lantern is such a unique superhero property precisely because the mantle has been shared by so many diffrent individuals. After seeing how well it handles those characters, why should Lanterns leave anyone out? Especially when it means HBO and DC Studios already have the lore and the characters to fuel many additional seasons of this hit show.
Lanterns airs on HBO and streams on HBO Max.
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Forum Conversation: LANTERNS – FINAL EPISODES
Go to ForumThis show is such a mess. This version of Stewart is no Green Lantern either. He’s a frickin VILLAIN! He literally waterboarded a helpless prisoner (torture–doubly so with the ‘water’ tainted to inflict madness); he not only let Hal’s killer get away, scot-free, but her son too, who is the last known Manhunter; he murdered the previous Manhunter/Granny after committing adultery with her multiple times, lying about it too, assaulting THE Green Lantern, Hal, stealing his/Guardian’s ring and lantern; desecrates Hal’s corpse by taking the ring from it; assaults and tortures a helpless prisoner, extorts the prisoner into revealing where the Fear Lantern is at, and then steals that too! Oh, and lets not forget that he lies to the legitimate Green Lantern–Guy–obstructs justice multiple times by hiding the identity/location of Hal’s killer, the identity/location of the Manhunter, and threatens not just Guy but ALL of the other Green Lanterns, and the Guardians! He makes up his own lantern oath, doesn’t even wear a GL outfit, and has no association with either the Guardians or the Lantern corps. He’s a mercenary, a vigilante, a villain–and a damn far cry from any sort of legitimate law enforcement officer, terrestrial or galactic!
Guy Gardner wasn’t afraid of Superman, ready to throw down, but Stewart shuts him up with his what? Blackness? There was no reason Guy shouldn’t have stomped Stewart into the dirt, crushed his finger, took back Hal’s ring for actual decommissioning, destroyed the Fear Lantern and brought Stewart back to OA for sentencing for all of his frickin crimes! This isn’t the incompetent Guy of the cartoons and comics, nor is this the competent Stewart of the cartoons or comics. If this show wasn’t written by woke racists determined to shame and tear down the “greatest” GL to ever exist, then Guy should’ve done the above to this clown pretending he’s a good guy! This show doesn’t deserve a second season, it sure as hell hasn’t earned it! It should be buried and forgotten, along with the rest of this DC nonsense going on! Maybe with the merger done, something can be done to fix this crapfest that is the DC universe but until then, this is best written off and forgotten; a ‘what-if’, oops, that’s Marvel’s thing!
Awful show & even worse viewership
Nielsen
Episodes 1 – 3 MISSED TOP 10
EPISODE 4 SPOT #8
EPISODE 5 SPOT #8
EPISODE 6 SPOT #7
EPISODE 7 & 8 NOT OUT YET
MAKES THE ACOLYTE LOOK GOOD
I really don’t think Hal cloned himself — I think it happened after he was shot — it was right in our face that he healed way too quickly and we just chalked it up to action hero bounce-back. I also don’t think it was Hal that broke out Sinestro — I think it was Lianna. I believe she is a Guardian, but I do not think she is in “good standing”. I think she is doing this all behind the Guardians back and she can do so under the cover of “no one cares about backwater Earth”. Hal hasn’t checked in for over a decade, John’s only contact with the Guardians is Lianna herself, and there is a very legitimate line of thinking that she specifically wanted to experiment with Humans in making them perfect soldiers. A Hal that can be bread to follow orders, and succeed where the Manhunters failed. When that didn’t work out, she broke out Sinestro to overcome the Guardians (or maybe a vain effort to win them over) as they likely align ideologically anyway. Who else told Sinestro about John Stewart, and his potential threat to Hal? Who else COULD have?
It’s right in our faces, plus the Sinestro Corps War hasn’t happened yet… this could be leading to that, and Lianna is one of the fallen Guardians from the comics (Scar, Kronos, or Koyos). They keep telling us about beings that change their shape, and gender — I can see one of those guardians presenting as female so as not to “disturb or upset” Bernadette as she manipulated her into indoctrinating her child to make up for the “shortcomings” of her husband.