DC released seven clips from Lanterns at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, and the footage arrived alongside reveals involving Sinestro, Superman’s Guy Gardner, and the DCU’s Guardians of the Universe. The HBO series pairs Kyle Chandler’s veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan with Aaron Pierre’s new recruit John Stewart, two space cops investigating a murder in rural Nebraska. The show gives the Green Lantern Corps its first headlining project in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Universe, arriving under the Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters banner.
The clips screened on Friday, July 24 during the show’s hour-long Hall H panel at the San Diego Convention Center, where The Direct was in attendance. Co-creators Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King joined Chandler, Pierre, Garret Dillahunt, and Poorna Jagannathan on stage, with Kelly Macdonald, who plays Sheriff Kerry, the only series regular missing.
The panel opened with a video message from DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, who is off directing Man of Tomorrow, before the final trailer made its debut and leaned hard into the Manhunters, the android enforcers who policed the universe before the Green Lantern Corps existed. The eight-episode series premieres Sunday, August 16 on HBO and HBO Max. Here is every scene DC screened inside Hall H.
Every Lanterns Clip Shown at DC’s Hall H Panel
Hal Jordan Drives John Stewart Off a Cliff
The first clip comes from the series premiere. Hal pulls up to John in a beat-up car with music blaring and opens with a blunt, "I’m late." John answers, "Yessir," and leaves it there, which bugs Hal more than any complaint would. "You weren’t going to say anything?" he presses, wondering why John shows no anger after his mentor vanished for two weeks without explanation and came back hungover. Hal explains he was off-world and shrugs off the rough morning, insisting, "If I’m hungover it’s only because I’m celebrating the new peace."
The pair are two months into training, and John has never once worn the ring. Hal, who calls John nothing more than a substitute teacher, decides to up the ante in the most reckless way possible. He dives out of the moving car, and the vehicle sails off a cliff with John still inside. John grabs the ring, puts it on, and the car crashes below.
The scene picks back up at a roadside food stand, where Hal soaks up celebrity treatment from the locals. A little girl tells him she misses the suit, and when a mother and her kid ask to see him in it, Hal grins, "Tell your mom I only wear it on special occasions." John then reveals he survived the wreck by making bubble wrap with the ring, and Hal closes the clip with a deadpan, "Oh, you’re a genius."
After the clip is over, Chandler explains that ego and the fact that Hal was "chosen" are the biggest divide between the two heroes, joking that John "wasn’t chosen." He kept it just as blunt about his own character, admitting, "He’s a bit of an idiot and an a**hole, so I sort of relate to that." Pierre took the warmer angle, praising John’s grit and layered personality. He brought up the character’s past as a Marine sniper and an architect, said John’s courage inspires him, and credited the writing for making Green Lantern lore feel tangible.
Mundy also took the opportunity to explain how the visual side was handled. He said the team wanted the flying and the constructs to feel "of nature," with John’s creations rooted in his architecture background, while Hal’s suit shows scuffs from years of wear.
Waylon Faces Questions as a Suspected Manhunter
The next clip centers on an interrogation. Hal grills Waylon Sanders, played by Chris Coy, a local man with a bandage on his nose who already popped up in the show’s trailer. The suspicion in the room is that Waylon is secretly a Manhunter. Watching the exchange, John admits to Sheriff Kerry that he respects Hal because the veteran is fearless. She pushes back with a colder interpretation, telling him, "Hal isn’t fearless, he’s lonely."
The dialogue also references football fans dying at a game, which plays like a possible spark for the season’s central mystery. The tone shifts midway through, marked by a terse, "Let’s say you’re right." Whether Waylon is a true Manhunter or some other alien hiding among humans stays unclear, and he refuses to give the Green Lantern Corps a single piece of information. The clip ends with him beeping, as if he could detonate at any moment.
After the clip is done, Mundy describes Sheriff Kerry as tough and cool, a woman fighting to hold her town together while staying a step ahead of everyone around her.
A Flashback Explores John Stewart’s Military Days
Another clip winds back the clock to John’s time in the service. In uniform, he meets a military contact at a diner and receives a target with the code name "Grey Wolf," a figure described as impossible to track. Intriguingly, the last team sent to investigate went silent. The man also asks about John’s father, an old friend from their days stationed together, and John assures him his dad is doing much better. The footage then cuts to John aboard a military plane, and it ends with him parachuting down into open water.
Guy Gardner Makes His Lanterns Appearance
Nathan Fillion made a surprise appearance at the panel, and a clip featuring his character followed. Guy Gardner strolls into the sheriff’s department, where John is locked in a cell, and the two clearly know each other already. However, the rest of the footage is redacted, keeping the conversation the two have under wraps for now. Fillion’s Gardner debuted in Superman and returned in Peacemaker Season 2, making Lanterns his third DCU project.
Hal Picks a Bar Fight on Purpose
Another clip opens with bar patrons shouting at Hal for playing the same song on the jukebox over and over. He wants a night in jail, since getting arrested would put him next to the man Sheriff Kerry refuses to let him question, and his plan is to start a fight. John calls it a bad idea. Hal swings anyway, and while the brawl spills across the bar, John picks up the ring his mentor left behind, convinced Hal is testing him.
Zoe, Poorna Jagannathan’s character, chats John up during the chaos. He insists Hal is not his partner, telling her their bosses put the two together and that "The way it works is Earth has one Lantern, so I’m just being trained in case anything happens to Jordan."
Jagannathan later sketched Zoe as an outsider who always had men wrapped around her finger. The character keeps more than one relationship going, her husband stays notably open about it, and she bores easily. Zoe fills whatever role the town needs while working to keep the Lanterns in place, and Jagannathan teased fireworks once John rolls into town.
William Macon Learns About John and Zoe
The next clip brings Hal and John together with Garret Dillahunt’s William Macon, a conspiracy-minded figure who hides ruthless ambition behind charm. Macon wants the three of them to work together after two of his men were shot and killed. The conversation then takes a sharply personal turn. Macon is Zoe’s husband, and John admits he slept with her, meaning the man now knows. Even with that bombshell, the genuinely funny banter between Hal and John runs through the whole scene.
Laura Linney Plays One of the Guardians of the Universe
The panel also solved a casting mystery. Laura Linney joined Lanterns in May with her role kept secret, and the creative team confirmed in Hall H that she plays one of the Guardians of the Universe, the ancient beings who founded the Green Lantern Corps. Details beyond that stayed off the table, though it seems like there's going to be a lot of history between the two, with the Guardian telling John many details of his past.
Sinestro Warns Hal Jordan About John Stewart
The final clip sends Hal to another world for a meeting with Ulrich Thomsen’s Sinestro, the rogue former Green Lantern who once mentored him. Hal pushes him on the Manhunters, and the answer comes with a warning aimed much closer to home. Sinestro brands a surviving Manhunter "the second greatest threat" Hal could face before turning his attention to the rookie:
"If one still existed, they’d be the second greatest threat you’d be facing. Why don’t you tell me about John Stewart?"
Sinestro then pries an admission out of Hal, forcing him to concede that John is his replacement. Back on Earth, Hal tries to recharge the ring, and John punches him before the two brawl for it on even footing. The footage ends with John holding Hal in a headlock while a red light glows outside and the roof of the house caves in.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
