Lanterns review: “A shining beacon of light when the DCU is at its shakiest”

GamesRadar+ reviewed the first seven of eight episodes of HBO’s DCU drama Lanterns ahead of its 16 August US premiere, describing it as a grounded murder mystery set in Rushville, Nebraska. The story follows veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, and trainee John Stewart, played by Aaron Pierre, as a shooting at a high-school football game opens into a wider conspiracy. The review highlights the series’ brisk plotting, cliff-hangers and the tense mentor-trainee relationship at its centre, while noting its crime-procedural influences and relatively restrained use of spectacle.

The reviewer presents Lanterns as a positive development for the DCU during a difficult period for the franchise, but identifies reservations about changes to established Green Lantern backstory, particularly those affecting John Stewart’s agency and the characters’ shared history. Other reviews broadly supported the strengths of Chandler and Pierre’s performances and the show’s gritty, character-led approach. However, TVLine argued that the programme becomes less effective when later episodes lean more heavily on dense mythology and superhero action, illustrating that the early critical response was favourable but not unanimous.