Lanterns wrapped up its first season last night with a surprisingly tidy little bow on top ahead of next year’s Superman movie, but it sounds like we are definitely getting a Lanterns season 2. There are also plenty of ways for Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan to return, even if Lanterns co-creator Damon Lindelof won’t be coming back with him.
While the showrunner behind previous HBO hits like The Leftovers and Watchmen is exiting the project, he confirmed to Collider in a recent interview that a new set of writers is already “working on ideating on Season 2.” That was the rumor last week, and HBO still has yet to announce if Lanterns has been officially renewed.
Maybe it’s waiting to see if the ideas for where to take Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart next are any good, though the end of season 1 certainly leaves a wide open field of possibilities. We also know that Pierre is set to appear in James Gunn’s Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, alongside fellow Green Lantern Guy Gardner, played by Nathan Fillion.
Of course, Warner Bros. is also in the midst of a messy corporate takeover. Who knows where that might leave things in the coming years? HBO’s other DC comics show, The Penguin, reportedly still remains in limbo after its own successful first season. The Batman: Part II is currently aiming for release sometime in 2028.
The good news is that whatever Lanterns‘ ultimate future ends up being, there are plenty of ways for Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan to return, according to Lindelof. The outgoing showrunner pointed to all of the times in the comic book series in which the character has died and come back to life, as well as the Parallax arc which sees him possessed by the evil cosmic force.
“I wouldn’t want to hamstring those writers in any way for what future storytelling mechanisms they could indulge in,” Lindelof told Collider. “Knowing what the comics have done with Parallax—and Hal, I think, has died at least 3 or 4 times over the course of the canon, and celebrating everything that Kyle did in his performance to get the audience to fall in love with Hal.”
He added that “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” That could be just him repeating a cliché, or it could be a nod to the power of will that has kept Jordan’s character talking in the show as a projection from Stewart’s subconscious. Having Chandler go full Albert Calavicci from Quantum Leap for a Lanterns season 2 wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
