SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the “Lanterns” finale, now streaming on HBO Max.
Don’t be afraid, the finale of “Lanterns” has arrived.
The season finale — or possibly the series finale, since HBO has yet to renew the series — wrapped up the mystery the series premiere revealed about who killed Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler). The episode, titled “Dirt and Stars,” also revealed the identity of the second Manhunter and explained how John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) became Earth’s sole Green Lantern in DC Studios’ upcoming “Superman” sequel, “Man of Tomorrow.”
Courtesy of John Johnson/HBO Max
The episode begins in 2016 Rushville, after the town has been destroyed by the first Manhunter attack. Sheriff Kerry (Kelly Macdonald) finds Hal in the rubble, and it is then revealed that she picked him up from prison after his release in 2026, waiting with beer and flowers. With their feelings for each other blossoming, the two go out to dinner filled with Rushville patrons who harbor a lingering hatred for Hal. Kerry defends him publicly, the two later sleep together, and Kerry invites Hal to her son Noah’s (Shea Pritchard) football game. However, a firebomb is thrown into Hal’s house in the middle of the night and Hal fails to escape. Hal wakes up on the floor of a strange laboratory, where Noah stands over him and explains that he replaced Hal’s burned skin using the same Manhunter technology that healed John in 2016. After much speculation on the internet, Noah is the secret second Manhunter!
Back in the present, on the planet destroyed by the Manhunters, John questions Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen) and learns that Noah freed the villain from prison. Sinestro reveals that he used the fear-inducing gas on the planet to create a new, yellow ring for Noah. As comic book fans know, Sinestro is the creator of the Yellow Lanterns, an evil group that opposes the Green Lanterns, who are powered by fear. Sinestro offers John the chance to charge his depleted ring from the ominous yellow lantern, but Hal’s hologram stops him and they leave Sinestro stranded on the planet.
Courtesy of John Johnson/HBO Max
Noah ambushes John when he returns to Earth, and the two return to Rushville together. Noah explains that he didn’t burn down Hal’s house, but says he was the one who killed him. He claims that he cannot allow Hal to reveal his identity as a Manhunter and the yellow lantern to Kerry. Noah says he’s trying to overcome the violent Manhunter program and wants John to kill him to protect everyone from what he can do. John doesn’t answer, but allows Noah to go play one last football game for Rushville.
Courtesy of John Johnson/HBO Max
John joins Kerry at Noah’s game and asks her about his son being a Manhunter, convinced he knew all along. Later, in a flashback, we see the moments just before Hal’s murder, and the truth is finally revealed. After Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan) saved Kerry years ago and replaced her severed finger with Manhunter technology, Kerry somehow became pregnant with Noah, who turned out to be a Manhunter like Zoe. Knowing Noah’s identity and fearing what he was planning, Hal confronted Kerry and told her they could escape and protect themselves. Kerry refused to leave and shot and killed Hal out of fear as he tried to reason with her by saying “Damn, I love you”. In the present, John reassures Kerry that he will not kill Noah and instead allows him to continue raising him (while continuing to play football at the University of Nebraska).
Courtesy of John Johnson/HBO Max
In the final moments of the episode, John calls Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) to Rushville and shows him the “unauthorized” ring and flashlight he received from Hal. In a sort of “independent contractor” role, John dubs himself Earth’s Green Lantern and tells Guy to look at the stars while he protects the planet. Hal’s hologram appears and gives John his final words of wisdom, telling him that he is ready to take on the mantle of Green Lantern. John tells the hologram that the last words he said to Kerry before he died were “I love you,” and the Hal replica solemnly repeats them to John.
Activating his ring, John flies off and leaves a bag of money as compensation for waitress Maggie (Hannah Christine Shetler), who lost her family in the Manhunter attack. He also has a touching reunion with his family back home, including his estranged mother Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones). Finally, in a twist on the classic Green Lantern oath from the comics, John personalizes the statement by emphasizing his newfound recognition of fear.
“On the brightest day / on the darkest night / I embrace my fear / I will do what is right / I choose this ring / I choose this fight / I choose to serve the light of this beacon.
Courtesy of John Johnson/HBO Max
While there’s no word yet on Season 2 of “Lanterns,” we do know that Pierre will reappear as John next summer in James Gunn’s “Superman” sequel, “Man of Tomorrow,” despite the show’s strong ratings from HBO. It might be an awkward reunion with Fillion’s Guy Gardner, but we now know how the two Green Lanterns from Earth decided to split their duties. How will things go when the two heroes come face to face? How will they team up with Superman, Supergirl, and the rookie Justice League when the alien Brainiac attacks? So could Chandler have a cameo as a hologram of Hal in John’s ring? We’ll have to wait and find out when “Man of Tomorrow” continues its DC Universe story on July 9.