Hey, remember back when HBO‘s Lanterns premiered with the first episode, “Pilot,” and everyone was all like “whoa, who killed Hal Jordan?” Well, five episodes later we’re back in the 2026 timeline with Episode 6, “Bad Optics,” and finally returning to the murder of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler). And as a bonus, though your mileage may vary there, Nathan Fillion stops by as Guy Gardner.
Before we get to that, a brief bit of precap before the recap to explain how we got here, and spoilers past this point. Back in 2016, John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) was recruited by a galactic organization called the Guardians, represented by Lianna (Laura Linney), to take over as Earth’s Green Lantern. Unlike Hal Jordan, who got the ring on the basis of not being afraid of a green bubble, John worked his whole life to get there thanks to training from his parents.
During a mission in Rushville, Nebraska, the duo discovered that Abin Sur, the alien whose ring went to Hal, was transporting a Manhunter, a world-destroying robot from a race originally created by the Guardians before the Green Lantern Corps was introduced. As the Manhunters were more extreme in their justice, the Guardians wiped them all out except for the Manhunter who was with Abin Sur, who killed him on Earth and assumed the identity of Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan). Zoe married William Macon (Garret Dillahunt) and worked with him to ostensibly build an anti-alien militia, but really to protect her from encroaching aliens and/or Green Lanterns.
Hal discovered that John was meant to replace him — not be his trainee — and trapped John in a car wreck that almost killed him, until Zoe healed him using a strange machine that also took a sample of his skin/DNA/whatever. While Hal went rogue trying to capture Zoe, she destroyed Rushville, alongside Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor), her ex, an alien who promptly exploded and died after killing William. This all climaxed in John taking the ring and associated lantern from Hal, killing Zoe, and then telling Lianna that he refused the position, walking away to find out who he is without wanting to be a Green Lantern.
Got that? John isn’t Green Lantern, Hal isn’t Green Lantern, the Manhunter is dead, and so is a fair amount of Rushville. That loops us back to the end of Episode 1, which found John returning to Rushville at the behest of Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly MacDonald), a former Gothamite with secrets of her own. Kerry is married to Billy Macon (Jason Ritter) despite seemingly not really liking him, and they have a son Noah (Cary Christopher), who has been told some sort of secrets by Zoe before she died.
In 2026, John and Kerry discover the dead body of Hal, frozen and shot in the head, in the same place he was sitting in the bleachers of the Rushville High football field, 10 yeas earlier.
There’s obviously a lot more to get into, and that’s exactly what we’ll do as we recap this week’s episode. So let’s get into it!
Panic! In Midway City
…and just like that, we’re in 2026, in what sure looks like Metropolis — but isn’t. As John Stewart explains, their city “doesn’t have a Superman,” so he’s saying they always want guns to protect a city against intergalactic threats or a “giant starfish” that comes out of the ocean. That, by the way, is an explicit reference to Starro from James Gunn’s now-canonical The Suicide Squad, so that’s pretty neat.
He explains that a few years back he was in an attack, and people were scared. He reconnected with his brother, Marcus, and he founded Stewart Brothers, became an architect, and they specialized in panic rooms. But because that can only hold one family, they gotta “scale up.” By the way, we also find out we’re in Midway City, which is usually the home of the Doom Patrol, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl.
He further explains there’s a structure that’s underground, the size of a football stadium, can hold 20,000 people, and he calls them “arks.” But the people he’s selling things to want to know about how he was once the Green Lantern. They ask him about navigating the chain of command. He’s a military guy, and that’s good news because if he can sell Colonel Draycott (not an Easter egg) on the idea, they’re good to go.
Marcus is thrilled when they close the deal, but the celebration gets interrupted by a call from his mother, Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones)… Who tells him that Hal Jordan “wants to apologize.” John doesn’t believe it, but he’s further surprised that Bernadette and Hal talked, and they were friends. They started talking “when he was locked up,” something we haven’t seen yet, and John is told Hal is back in Rushville, and eats at the cafe every night. So it’s back to Rushville for John.
Return To Rushville
An annoyed John heads to the cafe, where someone notices him come in from the outside (more on that later, likely), and sure enough Hal is sitting at the booth where John and Zoe once talked.
“Alright, let’s have it,” John says, but Hal doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Hal and Bernadette bicker about Bernadette, and we discover that Hal has been in prison for 10 years.
“I took the fall. And I spent the time. And we’re square,” Hal says.
John laughs, and offers that he “fell,” and got people killed. John is, of course, talking about the Rushville disaster of 2016 (probably), but Hal doesn’t apologize. Instead, he calls out the gym teacher “on TV” who carried some pandas in a bubble. This is Guy Gardner Hal’s talking about, and further he says he “ripped off that bat guy in Gotham, too. Put a beacon right in the middle of the f**king town here so people can summon him.”
John is still pissed, and Hal reminds him that “there’s more than one killer at this table.” Which is when Hal identifies — or tries — why John didn’t take the ring: he was afraid. That’s not why John took it, so John punches him.
…Which is when Hal begs him not to tell anyone that he’s in Rushville, and it’s clear Hal is actually scared. But of what?
Back To The Start
Later, John relaxes at home with a drink, far from his sober life a decade earlier (he took his first drink in the confrontation with Lianna last episode), when Kerry calls him. John is stunned, he tells her he’ll get there as fast as he can, and he turns right back around to go back to Rushville, looping to the final scene in the premiere.
Once again, we see Kerry and John approach Hal’s body, John check for the ring, oddly given he just saw him without. And Kerry explains that whoever break his nose probably killed him, “But this whole goddamn town wanted to break his nose.”
Kerry explains that she called John because she wanted someone who “cared he’s gone,” and further that Hal came back to Rushville for her. Billy and Kerry had been split for three years when Hal started trying to be Kerry’s pen pal from jail. He moved to Rushville, and every day would knock of the citizens’ doors asking what he could do to help. She told him it was stupid, pointless, and endearing. Kerry never told Noah that she ended up hooking up with Hal.
With the motel obliterated in the fight with Zoe, Kerry gives John the keys to the house Hal rented, and recommends he goes in the back door.
Hal’s House
John enters Hal’s house, and finds it at least more full than his previous house; but also finds a chair facing the door, clearly sleeping there every night waiting for intruders. John also finds Earl, Hal’s sentient plant monster pet thing.
Naturally there’s meat in the fridge, though less than there was in Hal’s old house, and John takes it out to prepare it for Earl. As he’s doing that, Marcus calls and let’s John know they have a meeting with the Colonel on Friday. John tells Marcus that Hal is dead, which makes Earl pretty sad, too.
John promises he’s on top of everything, and he falls asleep on Hal’s bed. The next morning, Kerry arrives (at the back door, of course), and offers to buy him breakfast at the Cafe. While there, Kerry questions the waitress (who was the person who noticed John outside earlier) about Hal, and Kerry prompts John to ask her if she killed Hal. He knows she didn’t kill him, though, and when the Medical Examiner calls, Kerry deputizes John, and they head over to examine the body.
She explains that the death of Hal is very straightforward: it was a gun to the head, and they shot him straight in the face, looking at him. Kerry has questions about the broken nose, which we know was John. But the bigger problem is that the press will be all over it when they find out Hal was murdered, so she gives Kerry until Monday to figure things out. We also find out that Noah is picking his football team soon, which is a big deal.
The ME explains they’ll be cremating Hal, and they are handed what’s in his pockets, including a bird key for the “Fortress of Storage.”
The Fortress of Storage
In the storage container is a big box that greats them with the same robot voice his pocket dimension that held his lantern had in his house. They use Hal’s voice from a sweet message he left for Kerry calling her “Buttercup,” but it doesn’t work… They need live voice from Hal, and it’s their “first and only warning.”
Kerry invites John over for dinner — or rather, forces him to come over — and we discover that John eats meat now, too. John then offers up that they should bury Hal, he deserves better than being burned and tossed in a can.
John picks up beer for dinner, and while he does, Linda Lockhart at Comfort Cove, a care facility that John’s father has been checked into. John Sr. is unhappy with the size of his windows, and John Jr. doesn’t want to talk to him. As the nurse explains this, John sees a sign for Guy Gardner’s Electro Punch, an energy drink with the tagline “Power. Punch. Repeat.” that goes for two for $6, which is a pretty good deal.
Light The Signal
That night, John passes by the Green Lantern signal Guy has set up, and he switches it on. Just as promised, it shoots a Green Lantern symbol into the sky, but rather than summoning Guy, it calls a couple of Rushville locals who surround him and tell him to turn it off. That’s when Billy shows up, and John tries to talk to him, get the other “gentlemen” to go home.
But Billy isn’t friendly, either. He tells John to turn off the signal, and counts to three. Or rather, John counts the three, and kicks the crap out of the yokels.
Without saying much, he heads to Kerry’s house, and we meet a grown-up Noah (Shea Pritchard). John explains his panics room, they’re there to provide safety, most people will never use them. And we also discover that Noah wants to be a Senator, on his way to becoming President. After the disaster, he wrote to FEMA and got them to come and help out the town.
Kerry gets a phone call, and of course it’s about John’s little scuffle in the town square. She sends Noah to his room, he tells Kerry she doesn’t need to pretend to not be sad about Hal, but she’s angry about him beating up Billy and company… And throws him in jail.
John makes his one call, and it’s to Marcus to get bail money, and Marcus is not happy either.
Guy Smiley
The next morning, Guy Gardner flies in — nobody actually turned off the signal — and Guy annoys John until he’s awake. Guy then tells John about the first time he met Hal, which was in prison: Hal told him to “go climb a rope.”
John tells Guy that Hal is dead, shot in the head, but Guy can’t help him solve the murder: it’s “bad optics.” John wants Hal to be buried in his uniform and ring, which Guy explains isn’t a thing, which is when we get an explanation for why Hal’s ring doesn’t look like Guy’s ring: the Guardians made a new one for Guy, and locked up Hal’s on Oa.
John makes fun of Guy, accuses him of being nervous, and John then gets serious, saying that Guy owes him. “Everything you have is because of me,” John says, explaining that Guy only has the ring because of him giving it up.
Guy moves closer to the bars and asks John if he heard what happened in “Spazkaban” which is Space Azkaban, which is the second Harry Potter reference on this show for Maximum Corporate Synergy. So what happened? Someone “busted out Sinestro.”
It wasn’t Hal, because he was in prison at the time… So who freed Sinestro? Lianna, perhaps?
Phone Tree
Marcus pays bail, and John makes it out of jail and back into his car. Turning his phone back on he has like 35 messages from Bernadette. There are more messages, too, from Marcus — the meeting is with the Colonel tonight — and Linda, who explains that John Sr. will be kicked out of the home for brandishing a handgun.
John calls Aaron to pick up John Sr., but he’s “in the studio” and can’t do it. Despite John bankrolling his whole album, Aaron doesn’t want to do it… Until John forces him.
Arriving back at Hal’s house, who is there but the waitress — Maggie — from the Cafe, who wants some coffee. She gives a whole monologue about being a watch perv, and then is wondering why Hal didn’t tell Kerry about meeting John, and breaking his nose. She wants $314,536.27, which is “reparations” for all the pain Hal and John caused. She, though she doesn’t say it, is clearly the little girl whose father died/lost his leg during the attack. She gives John a ticking clock, get her the money or she’ll reveal what she knows.
…Which is when Noah shows up with a suit for the funeral. John gives Noah a pep talk about making choices, and how it’s ultimately up to him, not everyone else which football team he chooses. Noah is pretty chill about John beating up his dad, too.
Funeral For A Friend
At the funeral, Guy is there, and sure enough, he got the uniform and ring. “Guardians ever catch wind, I’m on the first beam into the Phantom Zone,” Guy says, referencing the Kryptonian prison usually reserved for villains like Zod and Ursa.
Guy thinks John is gonna steal the suit and ring, which of course John isn’t going to do, and Guy leaves, flying off with a sonic boom. John, clearly, is thinking about taking the ring, but Marcus calls, the deal is about to happen… He’s not going to make it, but assures him it’ll be fine.
Which is when Carol Ferris (Amie MacKenzie), the canonical romantic interest for Hal Jordan in the comics shows up??? Kerry knew that Hal and Carol had a history, and she asks John to do the eulogy. “I’ll bet he liked you, John,” Carol says. “And I’ll bet he never said it.”
Hal, of course, wrote his own eulogy, and it was clearly when he was in his prime, addressed to Presidents, and super-villains. It ends with something earnest, though, addressed to his successor. “For even in the blackest of nights, I urge you to carry on. The world’s counting on you. I’m counting on you,” Hal writes. “Maybe it was just easier to fly than it was to stay on the ground… I hope I mattered.”
Later, Kerry and John are alone at the grave, and discuss the speech, how it was “110%” Hal. John thinks he’s going to stay around for a few more days to feed Earl and to help wrap up Hal’s affairs. Kerry invites him to the Cafe for coffee in the morning, and she leaves.
The Blackest Night
That night, naturally, John digs up Hal’s grave. In the midst of this, Marcus calls, and Colonel Draycott gets on the phone. John begins to speak, but the line cuts off. He calls back, and Marcus explains that the Colonel hung up and walked out because he was “unworthy of his time.”
After getting hung up on by Marcus, John opens up Hal’s coffin, and puts the ring on his finger. He does the whole “bang the ring” get the charge to 5% thing, and sure enough, he calls the Halogram. The Halogram looks at Hal’s dead body, and says “goddammit,” and we’re in the thick of it. Who killed Hal Jordan? John Stewart and, er, Hal Jordan are on the case.
Who Killed Hal Jordan?
Okay, now that we are back, let’s discuss the big mystery: who killed Hal? Given what we see in this episode, it seems likely that John and Kerry are in the clear, and despite my theory that it’s John Sr., it sure seems like he was in a home when this happened. Bernadette also seems to be too close to Hal to want to kill him, so who does that leave?
Billy, certainly, has good reason to kill Hal. Possibly Maggie as well, since she’s blackmailing John. And then there’s Noah, who is Manhunter suspect #1. Why would he want to kill Hal? Unclear, but they sure seem to be A) sticking with his character, and B) telling us how nice he is, which makes him potentially suspect.
But hey, we’re back into wide open territory. Who killed him, and why? We’ve got two more hours to find out.
Lanterns Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of Lanterns premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m. ET. Here’s what we expect from the full list of episodes in Lanterns with premiere dates.
- Sunday, August 16, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 1: “Pilot“
- Sunday, August 23, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 2: “Trust Fall“
- Sunday, August 30, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 3: “OutKast“
- Sunday, September 6, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 4: “The Weenie“
- Sunday, September 13, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 5: “Lights Out“
- Sunday, September 20, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 6: “Bad Optics”
- Sunday, September 27, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 7
- Sunday, October 4, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 8 *Season Finale*
Where To Watch Lanterns
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