The Season 1 finale of HBO’s Lanterns does more than finally solve the mystery surrounding Hal Jordan’s murder. By bringing Hal’s story to an emotional end and putting John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) in a position to carry the Green Lantern legacy forward, the series quietly changes the direction of the larger DC Universe. After spending eight episodes dealing with grief, cover-ups, and a murder mystery in small-town America, Lanterns ends with John becoming something much bigger: Earth’s main Green Lantern.
That also gives the character a pretty direct path into James Gunn’s upcoming Man of Tomorrow. Instead of introducing John from scratch in the movie, the DCU can now bring him in as someone who has already been through his own story, made difficult choices, and figured out what kind of hero he wants to be.
From Hal Jordan’s Shadow to Earth’s Green Lantern
Hal Jordan’s death changes things for John in a pretty fundamental way. Throughout the first season, John has had to operate alongside a legendary Green Lantern whose reputation often made it difficult for him to find his own footing. Hal was a mentor to John, but he was also tied closely to the rules and expectations of the Guardians of the Universe on Oa.
By the end of the season, John no longer wants to simply follow that system. After inheriting Hal’s ring and creating his own Power Battery outside Oa’s direct control, he makes it clear that he wants to do things differently. He isn’t interested in blindly following orders from a distant organization when the people on Earth are the ones who actually need his help.
That makes John’s transformation more interesting than simply giving him a new ring and calling him the next Green Lantern. He starts the season as someone still carrying the weight of his past, including his time as a Marine, and ends it with a much stronger sense of who he is. John chooses empathy over bureaucracy and decides that protecting Earth should be his priority.
Why This Matters for Man of Tomorrow
With Man of Tomorrow scheduled for July 9, 2027, John’s role in Lanterns could make his appearance in the movie much easier to handle. The film, directed by James Gunn, will bring David Corenswet’s Superman and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor together against Brainiac, so there will already be plenty happening without stopping to explain who John Stewart is and how he became a Green Lantern.
That groundwork has now been done on television. Viewers have already seen John learn how to use his abilities, deal with Hal’s influence, make his own moral decisions, and ultimately step into a larger role. When he shows up alongside Superman, he can simply be there as an established hero rather than another character who needs a full origin story.
His relationship with Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) could also make things more interesting. Guy is much more comfortable working within the established Lantern system, while John has gone in the opposite direction by choosing a more independent path. Putting those two personalities in the same room could create some fun friction, especially when they’re expected to work together.
What This Could Mean for Lanterns Season 2
John’s decision to operate independently also gives a potential second season a lot more room to play with. Season 1 deliberately kept things relatively grounded, using the Green Lantern mythology as the backdrop for a murder mystery rather than immediately turning the show into a giant cosmic superhero adventure. That could change now. John has created his own Power Battery, and his decision to step away from Oa’s control is unlikely to go unnoticed. A second season could explore the consequences of that choice, including conflicts with the Guardians, other Lantern factions, and threats that are much bigger than anything John dealt with in Season 1.
The trick will be keeping the character focus that made the first season work while opening up the world around him. There’s no reason Lanterns has to choose between the small-scale mystery storytelling of Season 1 and the larger Green Lantern mythology. John’s new position actually gives the show a way to do both. More importantly, the finale gives the DCU a clear Green Lantern to build around. Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart can now move between the grounded world of Lanterns and the much larger stories happening on the big screen. Hal Jordan may have been the character who started this story, but by the time the finale ends, it’s John who looks like he has the much bigger future ahead of him.