DC Studios Releases First Look At Lanterns’ Extraterrestrial Villain

A new extraterrestrial villain showed up on screen for the first time in the latest look at DC Studios' Lanterns. As one of the biggest franchises in media in 2026, DC Studios will continue with a first look into the world of Green Lantern characters in the upcoming Lanterns series. Now that the show is prepping for its release, its cast of characters is slowly being fleshed out.

DC Studios released a full trailer for the upcoming Lanterns series, set to debut on HBO Max in August. This trailer provided the first look at Paul Ben-Victor's new character at the 0:48 second mark, who is confirmed to play a classic extraterrestrial villain named Antaan.

In the trailer, no dialogue is used, as Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan stands in front of Ben-Victor's character in the middle of a restaurant. This restaurant appears to have taken plenty of damage already, as another antagonist behind Ben-Victor points a gun toward Jordan.

According to reports, Ben-Victor will play Antaan, an extraterrestrial threat devoted to exposing the truth behind his people's demise. Based on that decision, many believe his true role is being hidden and that he is actually playing a major DC villain named Atrocitus.

In DC Comics, Atrocitus is known as the founder of the Red Lantern Corps and possesses many of the same powers as Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and the Green Lantern Corps. However, instead of emotional willpower, the Red Lanterns' light constructs are powered by rage. This would be the Red Lanterns' first time ever being depicted in a live-action DC project.

Lanterns will be the first Green Lantern-centric project in the new DC Universe, overseen by DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. Starring Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Nathan Fillion, Ulrich Thomsen, Jason Ritter, and Paul Ben-Victor, the show will set Hal Jordan and John Stewart in Nebraska to solve an undisclosed mystery, all while Jordan trains Stewart to be a new Green Lantern. 

Aliens' Impact on DC Studios' Lanterns Show

As mentioned by Hal Jordan, humans are rare in this take on the Green Lantern Corps, which even includes "a f***ing squirrel" as part of the unit. Now, while Ben-Victor's Antaan looks human enough to start, it seems like it will be only a matter of time before he is revealed to be something much more dangerous.

While the series is also set to introduce the new DCU's Sinestro, should Antaan be revealed as Atrocitus, it would set up quite the threat for Hal and John to conquer. Considering that his powers are influenced by pure rage, having somebody that angry and aggressive threatening Earth will give the two Green Lanterns quite a challenging foe to take down.

For now, details about the series are being kept largely under wraps, although the trailer shocked fans by showing such a heated rivalry between Hal Jordan and John Stewart to start. Given that they will have to eventually set aside their differences to take down a bigger threat, plenty of drama will unfold over the course of this show's eight episodes. Either way, extraterrestrial life will have a major impact on the Corps and what happens in this first Earth-based adventure.