- John struggles to earn the Green Lantern ring as Hal stubbornly clings to it, creating conflict between the two.
- Hal's backup versions from 2006 complicate the situation, leading to a journey to Nebraska to investigate an alien threat.
- In 2026, John finally becomes the Green Lantern as Hal relinquishes the ring, marking the end of a 10-year saga.
Lanterns follows two Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan ( Kyle Chandler) and Green Lantern recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), through a series of battles, misunderstandings, and their obligation to protect the galaxy from extraterrestrial threats.
But before the show gets to that point, we see a young John Stewart studying a 1996 Hal Jordan interview. By this point, John has already been selected by the Guardians as the next Green Lantern, and the remainder of his childhood is spent training, learning, and suppressing emotions in preparation for his ascension into THE Green Lantern.
Fast-forward to 2016, Hal Jordan is John Stewart’s witty and unorthodox galaxy-guarding Green Lantern mentor. Poised, calm, and witty in his own right, John Stewart is skeptical about Hal’s ability to mold him into a suitable Green Lantern – pair this with Hal’s refusal to depart from the ring, and you can imagine how tension would rise between the two. In the first 10 minutes, we see Hal abandon John most outrageously, resulting in a car crash where John luckily gets to wear the ring to save himself.
What started it? Glad you asked.
John expressed his concerns about training for two months and still having yet to wear the ring, to which Hal replied,
“Don’t get hung up on the jewelry, junior; you’ll wear it when it chooses you.” “… You wanna take it? There’s a taco stand three miles up the road. I’ll meet you there,” then Hal jumps out of the moving vehicle, leaving John to crash and fend for himself.
A key moment in the beginning of the first episode that resonated with fans is after John survives the crash (of course) and calls his dad to tell him what took place. His father, played by P-Valley’s J. Alphonse Nicholson, says, “They’re allowed to have tantrums; we’re not.” Even in fantasy, we can’t lose our tempers…
Only One Can Wear the Ring, so how are there two Green Lanterns?
Hal Jordan is the Green Lantern Earthlings have come to know and love, but the Guardians picked John Stewart to be his successor.
John is steadfast in becoming the Green Lantern, but Hal refuses to let go of the title, the status, and most importantly, the ring. It becomes a Batman and Robin dynamic (with tension) until… Sadly for viewers, John officially has the ring. Now, we’re in 2026, and John has to assume the position.
2016-2026. What happens?
Well, let’s put it like this.
After John survives the crash in 2016, he meets Hal again, a version of Hal. The ring allows the Green Lantern to operate like an Apple iCloud (that you don’t have to pay extra for) and backup versions of himself; the only problem is that Hal’s consciousness hasn’t been backed up since 2006 (there’s something here with these years ending in 6). The 2006 Hal relays a message to John,
”There’s hail in Rushville, Nebraska.”
John finds his way to 2016 Hal, expresses his discomfort, and mentions the message from 2006 Hal.
In an instant, 2016 Hal leaves John with the bill at the taco stand to take off into the sky en route to Rushville, Nebraska. Humanly, John finds his way to Nebraska, where an investigation is going on, and Hal cleverly figures out there’s an alien involved. After talking with Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald), John jumps the gun and runs after the suspected alien; the alien gets arrested, and Hal and John go to a bar where Hal devises a plan to get arrested to talk to the alien in jail.
In the midst of Hal enacting his plan (which ends in his arrest), John talks to a woman, sleeps with her in his truck, and later finds out she’s the wife of an important man in town.
The 2016 Lanterns journey ends with Hal investigating the alien, getting him to admit he’s an alien because he could only admit remedial facts about Obama and past presidents, and then Hal having to use all of his power to keep the city from experiencing a massive explosion the alien used all of his life force to exude.
In 2026, John comes back to Rushville, Nebraska, at the request of Sheriff Kane because, in one way or another, Hal has relinquished the ring, and now John is the one who can wear it.
Aaron Pierre On playing John Stewart
During a Los Angeles ‘Lanterns’ press conference, Aaron Pierre spoke about his rendition of John Stewart in the first live-action adaptation of Green Lanterns.
“I’ve had my fair share of learning to master my sober mind and learning to navigate my experiences as someone who does feel things very heavily and deeply, so, I feel very seen by John.”
Pierre went on to say,
“One of my favorite things about John Stewart and how he is detailed and written and shared with audiences is the truth and honesty that is present within him, and how he is just so immensely complex, but just like we all are.”
The role called for Aaron Pierre to seek what truth he could bring to John.
“You have to bring a level of yourself and your truth to the portrayal because otherwise, it’s not authentic and otherwise there is no opportunity for audiences to resonate with you because you are simply copying and pasting,” said Pierre.
He also spoke on the importance of the character for Black representation.
Streaming now on HBO MAX, the series is set across a 30-year time period from 1996 to 2026 that fills in the blanks pertaining to questions loyal DC Comics Green Lantern fans might have about Hal, John, and the galaxy’s fate.
