HBO Max Drops First Five Minutes of Lanterns Ahead of Premiere

HBO Max has released the opening five minutes of Lanterns, offering an early look at the DC Studios series three days before its Sunday, August 16 premiere at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.

The preview, set in 1996, establishes the relationship between Hal Jordan and a young John Stewart before jumping two decades forward to their present-day partnership.

1996 Flashback Establishes the Bond

The footage opens with Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, being interviewed on 60 Minutes as a young John Stewart watches with keen interest.

Jordan’s TV interview speeds through his origin story, laying out his military past as a former Air Force test pilot and the death of his father when Hal was a young boy.

“Every kid’s worst fear is losing a parent. Once that happens, there is nothing to fear anymore.”

Chandler’s Jordan goes on to note that the only test a Green Lantern recruit faces is a single question: “Are you afraid?”

John’s military father, played by Sherman Augustus, returns home and punishes his son for breaking a “no TV” rule by taking him out back for a game of William Tell, with a pistol and an apple balanced on the boy’s head.

There, John Stewart Sr. asks his son the same question: “Are you afraid?” His son replies, “No, sir,” and does not flinch as his father shoots the apple off his head.

Two Eras, One Intergalactic Partnership

The clip then leaps forward 20 years to 2016, picking up with the adult John Stewart, played by Aaron Pierre, as he climbs into a car with an older, scruffier Hal Jordan.

Jordan’s tardy arrival reads as routine from the moment he shows up, a small beat that frames the veteran-replacement dynamic the show is building.

The contrast — grizzled veteran and his replacement in training — sets up what the series is positioning as an intergalactic buddy-cop pairing.

The five-minute drop is a deliberate tonal choice.

By leading with grounded, character-driven material in 1996 before pivoting to a 2016 murder investigation, the preview signals where the show is putting its weight: the relationship between the two leads, not the cosmic mythology that surrounds them.

Cast, Creative Team, and DCU Placement

The ensemble also includes Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Laura Linney, Jason Ritter, Ulrich Thomsen, Nathan Fillion, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones.

Lanterns was co-created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, with Mundy serving as showrunner.

The series follows a murder mystery involving the two lead characters, exploring both their relationship and the broader Green Lantern Corps mythology.

Anticipation has been building for the show since DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn announced the project in 2023.

Lanterns arrives as HBO Max’s flagship DC offering following House of the Dragon season three, and new episodes will air every Sunday night through early October.

Sources

• Broadwayworld