Entertainment
‘Lanterns’ Officially Destroys the Typical Superhero Formula With a Shocking Betrayal
Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Lanterns Episode 5.
HBO’s Lanterns has been quite a trip for both longtime Green Lantern fans and newcomers alike. The offbeat take on Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) has stripped the superheroes of their traditional ring-slinging adventures in favor of a grounded detective story that deconstructs both DC icons before pitting them firmly against each other. Episode 5 goes a step further here as they close in on the Manhunter, bringing the 2016 mystery to a close and leaving us wondering what the next three episodes could tackle. Lanterns takes what would have normally been the third act of a two-and-a-half-hour superhero movie and uses it as a nexus point that launches the narrative into the present day — and we still have plenty of questions.
‘Lanterns’ Episode 5 Pits the Entirety of Rushville Against Our Heroes
This week’s episode begins in 2007, when a younger Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) finds her way to Rushville after escaping her past in Gotham — only, she hasn’t really escaped, as two armed men arrive and flank her in the local diner. “Nice trick you pulled with the plates,” one of them tells her, revealing that her father was a thief who stole from their employer. But Kerry isn’t a snitch, and instead tries to explain that she only wishes to live her own life apart from the organization. This doesn’t convince the goons, but before things can go from bad to worse, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) arrives, killing one and sparing the other. Upon learning their orders were to take Kerry’s pinkie back to her boss, Zoe tells Kerry to cut it off before sending the thug out of town. Zoe tells Kerry that she’s been in her shoes. “Someone once gave me a chance when I needed it the most, and now I’m offering the same chance to you,” she explains. Zoe suggests Kerry stick around on one condition. “One day, some people are going to come looking for me,” Zoe reveals, and admits she’ll need someone to protect her. When Kerry agrees to these terms, Zoe says she’ll grow her a new pinkie.
Back in 2016, John wakes up in the crashed vehicle and attempts to get out. Unfortunately, his leg is pinned. Hal approaches and apologizes. “I’m sure you understand my position because you’re working with the Guardians to replace me,” the Green Lantern tells him. Hal believes that William Macon’s (Garret Dillahunt) militia will gear up to protect Zoe while Antaan’s (Paul Ben-Victor) alien forces fight back. This distraction will give him just enough time to locate the Manhunter and return her to the Guardians on Oa. Meanwhile, Rushville begins to mobilize as they anticipate a threat. On the ranch, Zoe, Kerry, and Billy (Jason Ritter) argue about what to do next. Zoe tells her grandson, Noah (Cary Christopher), that the best thing Billy can do now is to protect him. “A lot of people are going to die today — people you know, some you love,” she tells him. “But no matter what happens, don’t forget everything I’ve told you.” It’s an ominous warning, one that makes us believe there may be something more to Noah than meets the eye, but that’s all we get from this interaction.
While all of this is going on, John tries to pull himself out of the car, but things get a bit hairy for the Lantern trainee when the vehicle catches fire. For a moment, it looks like he’ll be spared when a black SUV pulls up, and Zoe pops out. Instead of sparing John, she watches as the rental blows up with him still inside, engulfing him in flames. Elsewhere, Hal is watching over Rushville from the water tower. He activates “sentry protocol” and sends the “Halogram” out to investigate. Eventually, this leads him to Kerry, who shoots at him first before explaining. “Zoe can’t hear us, but she can see us,” she tells him. Hal protects himself with the ring as Kerry tries to explain what she’s doing. “You can never understand what she gave me,” she says — perhaps Zoe did more than just give her a new pinkie. The sheriff insists that Rushville can have peace, but Hal tells her that she’s harboring a war criminal. “I’m not going anywhere until she’s stopped,” he says, and it’s with that thought that the sheriff tells him that everything that happens next is on him.
John Stewart Makes a Deal with a Manhunter in ‘Lanterns’ Episode 5
At the hospital, Zoe watches over John. He can’t feel anything, since all of his nerve endings are dead thanks to the vehicle fire. He tells her he knows everything about her true identity, but admits he doesn’t fully trust the Guardians and what they’re telling him after what went down with the ring in last week’s episode. “They just expected me to take the ring,” he says, frustrated that he hasn’t been backed by anybody this whole time. Zoe tells John that the Manhunters were created to enforce justice — at least, until they were deemed too ruthless, which is a judgment call she hasn’t once proven inaccurate. Zoe can heal him, but her help has a price: once she kills Hal, John will take the ring and tell the Guardians Hal died defending Rushville from Antaan and his forces. This way, John gets the ring, and Zoe can continue to live in peace.
When Hal arrives at the diner, he finds dead bodies everywhere. Naturally, it’s a trap, but he’s anticipated Antaan’s attack and defends himself with a giant green bubble. But the Green Lantern doesn’t want to fight; he wants to strike a deal — well, that’s what he tells the alien terrorist, anyway. Hal lies, telling Antaan that William Macon is actually the Manhunter, information that he seems to take with a grain of salt (but take it he does). In an interesting turn, Antaan reveals to Hal that John was compromised by the Manhunter through coitus, which is apparently the synthetic’s main form of deception. Just then, Macon puts the hit out on Hal, and the townsfolk in Rushville get AMBER alert-style texts telling them to attack and kill the Green Lantern. Fortunately for Hal, this helps his case with Antaan, who leaves in pursuit of Macon.
Back at the hospital, Zoe and John spend way too much time talking about racial barriers (which is apparently why Zoe took the form she did) while John is literally suffering from near-fatal wounds, which feels a bit disingenuous considering his pain, but we’ll ignore that. As John’s body is restored, we get a flashback montage of his upbringing, training, and time in the Marines that recaps the entirety of “OutKast” in less time. Upon being restored, John has a revelation of his own. “You killed Abin Sur,” he tells her. “He brought you here to spare you.” Of course, Zoe doesn’t deny it. Instead, she justifies her actions, noting that she simply “couldn’t help it.” Even more concerning is that Zoe is drawn to John because he “really sees” her. After this interaction, Macon calls Zoe, and the two say their goodbyes as Antaan and his forces arrive at the ranch. “Thank you for everything,” she tells her husband. “Thank you for the gift of time,” he replies.
As Antaan’s forces invade the compound, Macon’s men fight back. The whole thing is a bloodbath as Antaan’s men suicide-bomb the Weenie and some of the other surrounding structures, slowly taking out the whole militia. Unfazed by the surrounding intensity, Macon sits in his office and drinks some whiskey when Antaan arrives. Macon pretends to be the Manhunter, and here we learn that Antaan and the android were previously involved in an intimate capacity, though they were unable to conceive any children. Antaan then attacks and kills Macon after realizing that the real Manhunter would never have welcomed death. In the wake of her husband’s demise, Zoe begins attacking the entire town, forcing Hal into space to disarm the laser weapons — a sequence we wish Lanterns would’ve shown.
Hal and John Face Off Over the Ring as ‘Lanterns’ Wraps Up the 2016 Story
After John escapes the hospital, he calls his father and demands that his parents patch him through to the Guardians before telling his mother that he plans to take the ring right from Hal’s finger. Of course, Hal is busy on the streets saving the locals from alien threats, but when the Halogram arrives and informs him of Zoe’s position, he completely diverts his attention. Before Hal can apprehend her, Zoe orders her men to blow up the nearby water tower — which houses not water, but the same dark energy he and John encountered on the Macon ranch before. Hal fights his way through, but not before sending an enraged Antaan into the shadows to his death. When the ring warns Hal that it’s time to recharge, he returns to the motel — but he isn’t anticipating a fight.
In the chaos, John grabs Hal, and they duke it out in the motel. John maintains that he deserves the ring, that he’s earned it after all these years preparing to wield it, while Hal issues a reminder that he was chosen. Eventually, John gains the upper hand, but before he can knock Hal out, the motel is attacked by another energy beam. John escapes in the aftermath, leaving Hal inside and trapped under debris. When Zoe arrives and asks where John is, Hal tells her that he “promoted himself,” but the Manhunter insists that she promoted him. Hal believes if John wanted him dead, he would’ve done it himself, making Zoe wonder why the ex-Marine would leave him to be discovered in the rubble. “Bait,” Hal replies — before John, with a sniper rifle from afar, shoots the Manhunter through the head.
Although the Manhunter has been killed and the alien threats neutralized, Rushville has been totally decimated. Walking back to Hal’s motel room, John pauses to give a watch to a young girl crying beside her wounded parents before retrieving his own belongings and confirming the Manhunter kill, carving Zoe’s crystallized heart out of her chest and putting it in his bag. Walking over to Hal, he takes the lantern and ring off his finger. “Was it worth it?” Hal asks, but John doesn’t answer. Instead, he walks off with his prize, wandering through the completely demolished town. When he’s met by Macon’s men, who quickly surround him, Kerry lets him go after inquiring about Hal’s whereabouts.
This chapter of Lanterns ends with John meeting with Lianna (Laura Linney). He tells the Guardian that Hal is still alive and brings her the Manhunter’s heart as proof of the kill. “Even we make mistakes,” she tells John. “All we can do is correct them.” John confesses that he’s spent a lot of his life wondering how he would feel after taking the ring, but when he put it on, he just felt empty. “Hal betrayed everything to keep this ring,” he explains. “And it broke him. Probably doesn’t even remember why he wanted the damn thing.” Instead of putting on the ring and finally reciting the oath, John gives it back to the Guardian and walks out.
New episodes of Lanterns air Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
- Release Date
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August 16, 2026
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Alik Sakharov, James Hawes, Stephen Williams, Geeta Patel
- Writers
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Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy, Tom King, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Justin Britt-Gibson, Breannah Gibson
- It’s a bold choice not to give John the ring here, but one that will no doubt pay off before the season is up.
- The Manhunter climax comes together well, but the fact that there’s still three more episodes signals that there’s still more to explore in Rushville.
- Halogram working alongside Hal is a fascinating contrast that we ought to get more of.
- Lanterns could’ve been a much stronger series if Hal and John weren’t always betraying one another.
- Hopefully this won’t be Hal’s last time as a Green Lantern.
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