Two of the biggest mysteries in HBO’s Lanterns is one) Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) is dead, and nobody knows who killed him or why. And two) when John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) examines Hal’s corpse, he notices that his Power Ring is gone.
Since John was supposed to be Hal’s successor, why doesn’t he have the ring? And more importantly, who is in possession of the ring now?
John has always gotten the short end of the stick
Throughout the series premiere “Pilot,” John struggles to prove his worth as the next Green Lantern. In 2016, he’s been training with Hal for two months but it’s incomplete due to a combination of Hal not being around and not believing John is ready. In fact, Hal doesn’t even try to hide how he is not thrilled with the fact that John was even chosen by the Guardians of the Universe to be his replacement. Hal tells him the ring picks its own wearer. It’s not a promotion. He can’t just hand it over.
What little training John does get only serves to either humiliate him or make his life harder. For John’s flying lesson, Hal dives out of the car he’s driving as it’s heading towards a cliff while leaving his ring behind. John is forced to figure out how to protect himself with a ring he barely knows how to use. And John is expected to just be…okay with almost dying due to Hal’s stupidity.
“Dad, he tried to kill me,” John says to his dad John Stewart Sr. over the phone. “We was on our way to a flying lesson, and he… Jordan just tried to fucking kill me.”
“He can’t kill you. He’s just trying to put you on tilt,” is John Senior’s response to his son being a victim of attempted murder.
“I’m not on fucking tilt!”
“Then he’s testing you,” John Senior shoots back. “They’re allowed to have tantrums. We’re not. So breathe in, button down, and bottle up. You need to be cool. Can you be cool, son?”
“Yes, sir. I can be cool.” Because God forbid John is allowed to be anything but cool.
“Good. You want this, right?” John Senior asks.
“Of course, I want this,” John says.
“Just stay the course and this job is yours.”
Later on when Hal realizes there’s trouble in Rushville, Nebraska, he flies to the small town and leaves John behind in Coast City, California. The poor guy has to fly to Nebraska and wait for someone to pick him up and drive him to Rushville. You can tell from John’s interactions with Hal that he’s holding in a lot of anger and bitterness over how his mentor treats him.
Hal goes out of his way to send the message that the only way John will become Green Lantern is for Hal to die or retire, which he has zero interest in doing.
But that’s not what happens.
Guy Gardner was already Green Lantern before Hal died
To make this situation even messier, a man named Guy Gardner (played by Nathan Fillion) is already active as Green Lantern by the time 2025 rolls around.
He’s introduced as one of the members of the Justice Gang in the Superman movie. He even tells Superman that he was “commandeered by the Green Lantern Corps” to protect Earth from alien threats, a full year before Hal’s body turns up on the bleachers in the winter of 2026 in Lanterns.
Tom King, one of the show’s co-creators, has confirmed on the official podcast that Guy has the ring by the end of episode one. He’s flagged it as a real mystery the show intends to explore.
So at some point, the Green Lantern Corps decided that Hal was no longer worthy of the mantle of Green Lantern. Or the “one ring per sector” rule isn’t strictly enforced or something happened that let two Lanterns operate on Earth at the same time.
So why doesn’t John have a ring either?
That’s a good question that’s at the heart of this mystery.
It’s hard to talk about the reasons why John doesn’t have the ring without acknowledging who John is. In the comics, he’s the first Black Green Lantern and one of the first Black superheroes to appear in the DC Comics. Some critics have pointed out that John’s dynamic with Hal deconstructs America’s belief in pure meritocracy, the idea that the most qualified person always wins out no matter who they are.
Hal was chosen to be Earth’s first Green Lantern back in 1986. As far as we know, he never had to prove himself to Guardians or the Green Lantern Corps. Hal carries himself with the confidence of a white man whose exceptionalism is never questioned by the universe.
Meanwhile, John’s worthiness as Hal’s successor is constantly tested and questioned. Despite showing that he’s quick on his feet, observant, disciplined thanks to his work as a United States Marine Corps sniper, he’s no closer to getting the ring.
When John Stewart was created in 1971, writer Dennis O’Neil specifically wanted John to confront racism and police harassment head-on. The character was meant to bring the urgency of the Civil Rights movement into a franchise that had avoided it for the most part. That legacy only adds to the feeling that this version of John is supposed to tackle how a person’s race determines whether they’re allowed to have certain opportunities.
To be clear, the show hasn’t outright stated that race is the reason John was skipped over. It could be that since John’s training is incomplete, maybe the Guardians decided it was better to find someone else to assume the role. While Hal wasn’t bad at his job, his cocky, reckless approach to being a hero causes more trouble than he’s worth.
It’s clear that something happened that warranted the need for a second Lantern on Earth. Maybe Guy proved himself in a separate crisis the show hasn’t depicted yet.
We’ll hopefully get more answers as season one moves forward. For now, we’re not just asking “who killed Hal? ” We’re also left to wonder “why wasn’t John good enough to be Green Lantern?”
New episodes of Lanterns air every Sunday night on HBO and HBO Max at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT.
