DC Studios' next live-action TV show, Lanterns, is making history in one major way already. The DCU will deliver its fifth release and second live-action series this summer with Lanterns, a grounded, buddy cop drama starring an Emerald-wielding duo - recruit John Stewart and veteran superhero Hal Jordan.
DC Studios will do something historic with Lanterns' logo as it becomes the first DCU project to be promoted with "HBO Original" branding. Typically, HBO is associated with high-caliber, prestige TV, with award-winning originals such as Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, and Succession in its 50-year catalog.
The same, sadly, can't be said for Peacemaker Season 2, which was instead promoted on the Warner Bros. streaming service, HBO Max (formerly Max).
Creature Commandos similarly didn't receive the HBO Original moniker and instead premiered new episodes weekly on Max, which is far less surprising, as the premium network rarely delves into animation.
Lanterns may be the first DCU project to be unveiled as an HBO Original, but it isn't the first offering from DC Studios to reach this prestige status. The Penguin simultaneously aired new episodes on HBO as it began streaming on Max and is regarded as one of the best DC series of all time, with a second season potentially on the table, despite original plans to limit it to a limited series.
DC Studios revealed new logos for James Gunn's entire 2026 DCU slate last year, including the Supergirl summer blockbuster, the sci-fi detective drama Lanterns, and the body-horror Batman villain spin-off Clayface.
Lanterns suffered a setback when it was delayed to late summer, with many expecting the eight-episode run to begin between August and September. The series puts the spotlight on Aaron Pierre's John Stewart and Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
Lanterns' HBO Branding Has a Deeper Meaning
Since DC Studios' slate announcement in January 2023, Lanterns has been described as "a huge HBO-quality event" that is "very much in the vein of True Detective," which continues on the premium cable network to this day.
The studio seems eager to do something different with Lanterns, as showrunner Chris Mundy told Vanity Fair how he sought to "[create] something really grounded inside this big, amazing mythology." The result was proclaimed to be a "layered, human HBO drama," which fans will finally see over the summer.
One only has to look at Lanterns' creative team to see the potential it has to be something special for the DCU. Mundy is best known as the showrunner of the Emmy-winning Ozark, co-creator Damon Lindelof was famously behind Lost, and co-creator Tom King is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer.
Regardless, many expressed concern that Lanterns will lean too far into a grounded, terrestrial crime drama, thereby avoiding the sci-fi space-cop elements that the Green Lantern Corps are beloved for.
