‘Lanterns’ HBO Review: A DC Superhero Story Filtered Through Prestige TV Melancholy

When do you realize you’re watching an HBO version of a superhero story? Is it when the characters feel psychologically tortured and walk through life with a look of suffering on their faces? When everything seems to unfold in some small town full of dangerous secrets? When the cinematography goes dark and you can barely make out what’s happening on screen? Yes, all of that, though with its own variations. TV series (or streaming series) built around big commercial franchises enjoy a certain creative freedom that films —with their bigger budgets and lower tolerance for unnecessary risk— don’t allow themselves. In this territory, companies like Marvel, Star Wars, DC and others are willing to take chances, stumble, and send shows to the recycling bin in ways they’d never dare with their movies. And it’s precisely because of that freedom that what comes out the other end is often more interesting than what we see in theaters.

Lanterns promises to be one of those cases: a DC superhero run through the HBO filter, a combination that was, unsurprisingly, put together by Damon Lindelof (a specialist in stories with supernatural elements, including the somewhat similar Watchmen) and Chris Mundy, a producer whose résumé includes major stints on shows like True Detective and Ozark, among others (Tom King, an award-winning comic book writer, rounds out the creative trio). That’s the combination DC went looking for with Lanterns, and it’s what the show initially delivers: a blend of action-adventure with intergalactic characters set against a backdrop that feels more like a human-scale police drama. And of the two tendencies the series leans on — somewhat awkwardly — it’s the second one that dominates.

The famous «Green Lantern» — or perhaps we should say «Lanterns,» plural, since several people have taken on the role of Earth’s protector superhero over the 86 years since the character was created — is played here by Kyle Chandler, in what may be his best-known incarnation of the role: Hal Jordan. Lanterns first introduces him in 1996, when his name and position are revealed to the world, captivating a young John Stewart (played, as an adult, by Aaron Pierre), who will go on to become his apprentice and potential successor.

The bulk of the action, though, takes place in 2016, when the two of them operate as a duo of investigators not unlike those found in crime dramas — except here they’re wryly described as «space cops.» By this point in his life, Hal has become cynical, alcoholic, poorly respected, and something of a joke to himself. But he still carries the power of his green ring, and that makes all the difference. John, meanwhile, is just learning to use it and has no choice but to put up with the orders of this seemingly unreliable figure. It’s what he has to do if he wants to become his successor — an idea Hal himself isn’t entirely comfortable with.

The story unfolds in a small town in Nebraska, where Hal gets word of extraterrestrial activity. A bizarre crime involving several local high school football players suggests it may have been caused by otherworldly forces — or at least, that’s what Hal Jordan believes. He and John dive in to investigate what’s really going on, uncovering a complex web of intrigue that’s as intergalactic as it is grounded in reality. Yes, there are superheroes and creatures from outer space, but there are also sheriffs (Kelly Macdonald), armed militias, racism, powerful landowners, and small-town secrets that turn out to be bigger than they first appear.

Lanterns has to work to blend these two registers — one built on special effects (the protagonist, let’s not forget, has a powerful ring and can fly) and space creatures, the other rooted in the more grounded, mundane territory of the prestige dramas that air Sunday nights on HBO. At the same time, it has to reconcile the humor the character brings and his particular way of looking at the world with the heavy gravity the plot takes on, especially following a major revelation at the end of the first episode that gives the rest of the series an unexpected dramatic weight.

Early on, the show is promising, if occasionally erratic in its narrative choices. In its favor, it has a cast of strong actors working as an ensemble —there are no dazzling stars here trying to steal the spotlight on their own, beyond a certain scene-stealing flair Chandler brings to his character— and at its center, a classic, foundational figure in the DC universe. Much like other franchise shows such as Wonder Man and WandaVision (Marvel), Spider-Noir (Sony), or, at least initially, The Mandalorian (Star Wars), Lanterns sets out to step away from the superhero formula in order to circle back to it, gaining distance so it can reshape our expectations of what a superhero story should be. And for now, it succeeds. Whether it can ultimately resist the temptation to become just one more of the pack remains to be seen.