James Gunn’s Lanterns Comments Suggest a Major Fan Theory Is True (& That’s Great News)

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Lanterns episode 6.

After Sunday’s reveal-filled sixth episode, Lanterns has just two episodes remaining (potentially for the entire series, as no second season has been confirmed yet), and now, James Gunn has given fans a major hint that a popular fan theory about Hal Jordan may actually be true. In episode 6, John Stewart returned to Rushville and, among other things, reconnected with Kerry over the apparent death of Hal. Various plot details are confirmed at this point, from the fact that Kerry and Hal had a full-blown relationship—and she’s actually heavily grieving him, somewhat to John’s surprise—to the arrival of Guy Gardner, cementing the fact that John really did walk away from the role of Green Lantern and, at least so far, hasn’t looked back. Even with all of these reveals, and various other details, including a Batman name drop and a reference to Superman, fans are hung up on one question: is Hal Jordan really dead?

There have been suspicions from the first moment Hal’s death was teased that this story arc wasn’t what it seemed, especially because many were doubtful that the show would kill off a key character, especially one played by someone as popular as Kyle Chandler, that quickly. Of course, given Lanterns‘ timeline approach, which involves jumping around in years, he has still gotten plenty of screen time. James Gunn has argued exactly that, in fact, in a new post that suggests fans are right, and Hal’s ‘death’ isn’t what it seems. Specifically, on Threads, a user accused Gunn of disrespecting the character by killing him off so quickly. In response (and in addition to pointing out that Hal has been in every episode so far, among other things), Gunn said, “We more than respect him. We love him, despite his imperfections. Us knowing the time of his death, if that’s exactly what that is, is absolutely not the same thing as killing him off right away.”

Is Hal Jordan Really Dead?

A few things are interesting about Gunn’s response. For one, he’s clearly frustrated that fans are claiming Hal’s death was too soon and seemingly overlooking the fact that he has nevertheless continued to appear in every episode so far. More significantly, though, Gunn’s comment about Hal’s time of death, specifically saying, “if that’s exactly what that is,” suggests that fans may be right that Hal Jordan isn’t really dead. It’s actually difficult to imagine what else that comment could suggest, other than there being more to Hal’s ‘death’ than it currently seems. And, despite Gunn’s (arguably valid) points about Hal’s death not preventing him from continuing to be a major character, it would make sense if the show didn’t want to fully kill him at this point, including because that would presumably prevent him from appearing elsewhere in the DCU in the future. Fans have also already theorized exactly how this could be the case, with many suspecting that Hal has actually been cloned.

This idea had already been circulating, but the theory took on real momentum when Spanish language subtitles at one point referred to the character who seemed to be Hal as “Clone de Hal,” translating to Hal’s clone. This would be a weird mixup if that wasn’t part of the plot, and it’s reminiscent of a similar slip-up in the Star Wars show The Acolyte when the name “Osha” was shown before it had been revealed that Mae was a twin. If that was indeed a mistake that gave away a major plot twist, then these pieces would all make sense together. The dead Hal we are seeing could very well be his clone, and the real Hal could still be alive out there. Granted, that raises a whole host of other questions about where the real Hal is and which Hal was the clone and when, which seems like a lot to answer in just two remaining episodes. However, if that ended up meaning Hal’s return in another DCU project or potentially a second season, it seems like some fans certainly wouldn’t be mad about it.

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