Lantern co-creator says Guy Gardner has Hal Jordan’s ring in Superman

The DC Universe just got a serious dose of grit with the debut of Lanterns on HBO, and from the very first episode, it throws the audience into a complex web of cosmic murder and timeline confusion. But beyond the spectacular visuals, the show immediately sets up a mind-bending mystery that has fans frantically diving into the lore.

The true bombshell, however, arrived via the official podcast, where co-creator Tom King offered a cryptic clue that instantly sparked intense speculation. At the end of the first episode, the narrative delivers a brutal twist: Earth’s Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, is dead in 2026, and his Power Ring has vanished.

This revelation immediately throws the established DCU timeline into chaos. If Hal is deceased, the subsequent history and the chain of succession for the cosmic ring become instantly complicated. The real puzzle isn’t just who killed him—though that is a deep rabbit hole—it’s the logistical impossibility of the situation.

King’s comment underscored the core intrigue: if Hal is dead, then the ring must have passed to someone else. The show asks a fascinating question about this transition, specifically focusing on Guy Gardner. As an established Green Lantern, Guy Gardner is positioned in the narrative, raising the immediate query of why he ended up with the ring when John Stewart was not the obvious choice.

This line of succession creates a significant temporal headache. Considering the established timeline for events like Superman, which is set in 2025, Hal’s death in 2026 forces the audience to grapple with how the timeline shifts and how history has been re-written around this devastating loss.

It is entirely possible that future episodes of <Lanterns> will dedicate significant time to unraveling this historical knot. But for now, the show excels at letting the mystery simmer, demanding that viewers engage with the ground-level murder and the deep, personal stakes of the cosmic drama.

The show manages to blend this high-stakes mystery with a commitment to realism. Showrunner Chris Mundy emphasized that realism was the goal for the gritty drama, aiming to tell a real story, rather than simply serving fan service. This focus on substance, coupled with the comic-book legitimacy brought by co-creators Damon Lindelof and Tom King, promises a profoundly layered experience.

Lanterns is more than just a superhero show; it is a sprawling, gritty murder mystery set across multiple timelines, inviting audiences to ponder not just who is powerful, but how history is made, and who truly inherits the legacy of the Green Lantern.