DCU’s Lanterns TV Show Gets Surprising Release Date Update

Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars, the DC Universe franchise has projects in development for both the big and small screens. Up next in the latter category for DC Studios is Lanterns, the long-awaited series that brings the Green Lantern Corps. back into the spotlight over a decade after the infamous 2011 film starring Ryan Reynolds. Billed as a detective story that takes cues from works like True Detective, Lanterns is shaping up to be a very intriguing addition to the DCU. Understandably, fans are eager to learn when the series will premiere on HBO Max, and it unfortunately sounds like it’s going to be a bit of a wait.

The podcast Green Lanterns Podcast recently reached out to The Hollywood Reporter to inquire about a detail included in one of the outlet’s Heat Vision newsletters from October. In that piece, The Hollywood Reporter noted that Supergirl would be the next DCU installment to debut. Green Lanterns Podcast asked if that meant Lanterns would debut after the film. In response, THR said, “You are quite the eagle-eyed reader. Yes, we expect Lanterns will now come after Supergirl.”

When Will Lanterns Release on HBO Max?

DC fans had been hopeful that Lanterns would premiere in early 2026, helping fill the void between the Peacemaker Season 2 finale and Supergirl. Instead, it sounds like the show won’t hit HBO Max until the middle of the year. Supergirl releases on June 26, 2026, making July the likeliest earliest possible date for Lanterns. DC Studios and Warner Bros. will probably want to have some space between the two projects so Supergirl can have its moment in the spotlight before the focus shifts to Lanterns. A more specific release window hasn’t been ironed out yet, but releasing Lanterns in mid-or-late July might make sense. Based on this update, it’ll be out before Clayface arrives in September 2026.

It’s expected that House of the Dragon Season 2 will premiere around June 2026 on HBO Max, so holding Lanterns off until later in the summer would also create some separation between two of the streamer’s tentpole shows. HBO Max has plenty of programming to fill valuable slots in early 2026, with Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, The Pitt Season 2, and Euphoria Season 3, meaning there aren’t many gaps on the schedule for the first half of the year. Waiting until after Supergirl also gives the Lanterns creative team additional time to complete post-production responsibilities; as a superhero show, the series should have extensive visual effects and set pieces, which shouldn’t be rushed.

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Peacemaker Season 2 premiered in late August of this year, so that window could be another possibility for Lanterns. A possible issue there is that would put it in the crosshairs of Clayface‘s theatrical premiere, so it remains to be seen how DC Studios and HBO Max want to plan out the release slate. However, it is worth pointing out that other major franchises have released new episodes of TV in close proximity to feature films (the seventh episode of The Mandalorian Season 1 came out a couple of days before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, for example), so this shouldn’t cause either any harm. Movies and TV are two very different mediums with different ways to measure success. It’s not like Lanterns and Clayface would cannibalize each other at the box office.

Having three projects debut within a few months of each other (less than three months separate the premieres of Supergirl and Clayface) will be a fascinating test for the DCU. Brands like Marvel and Star Wars have been guilty of oversaturating the marketplace with an abundance of content, making it easy for franchise fatigue to settle in. DC Studios is committed to favoring quality over quantity with an output strategy that minimizes annual theatrical releases, but this’ll still be a lot of DC in a short period of time. If everything is of high quality, however, then viewers will happily consume it all.

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