HBO’s Lanterns Season 2 & Beyond Gets Exciting New Update For DC’s Green Lantern Series

Green Lanterns‘ light shines bright.

After Ryan Reynolds’ controversial Green Lantern movie was released in 2011, DC took a break with the development of other live-action projects featuring any Green Lanterns. That meant that no human Green Lanterns appeared in all the old DCEU movie timeline, with John Stewart being cut from Zack Snyder’s Justice League. However, all of that is about to change, as John, played by Aaron Pierre, and Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, will be the main stars of DC’s upcoming Lanterns series. After a new update, it seems like the heroes’ time in the spotlight is only just beginning.

According to a major report from Entertainment Weekly, HBO’s new Lanterns series is being envisioned as a multi-season show. While a formal Lanterns season 2 renewal has yet to happen, with the studio likely waiting to see how the first season performs when it debuts on HBO on August 16, this update should ease the fans’ concerns that this could be the last time that a character like Jordan, who trains Stewart in the DC series, could show up in James Gunn’s DC Universe.

Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler walking down a road in Lanterns

According to Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy, he would be bluffing if he claimed to know “the last thing of the endgame” of the upcoming DC series, as the team behind the show has no idea how long Lanterns could go. If those plans work out, it would make Lanterns the third consecutive show to be released in Gunn’s DCU that ends up running for multiple seasons. While Peacemaker season 1 was originally released as part of the DCEU, season 2 was a major project for the new DC Universe. The other multi-season DCU series is the animated Creature Commandos.

Aside from Hal Jordan and John Stewart, Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, who made his DCU debut in 2025’s Superman, is also set to return in Lanterns, appearing in multiple episodes of the HBO series, as revealed by Mundy, who calls the character “fabulously obnoxious.” The showrunner also confirmed that several characters from the wider Green Lantern and DC canon appear in Lanterns season 1, “but not the other Lanterns,” which leaves the door open for other superheroes to join the DCU series in possible future seasons. Lanterns has the perfect story for a multi-season series, spread across two different timelines.

In 2016, Lanterns will focus on a shooting in Rushville, taking Hal and John to a rural town that could be somehow connected to aliens. In 2026, the DC series will follow a new mystery, which is being kept a secret for now. In the 10 years between the two timelines that will be explored in the show, several DCU events happen, including Guy’s role in 2025’s Superman, meaning there is plenty of material for Lanterns to explore for years to come. The update is an interesting one for Hal Jordan’s future.

While DC fans already know where to look for John Stewart next, as Pierre will return in 2027’s Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, Hal Jordan’s future in the DCU is a bit of a mystery at the moment. On September 23, 2024, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Borys Kit claimed that Chandler’s contract did “not have a movie component.” Before the end of the year, the status of Lanterns season 2 should be revealed.