DC Studios' Lanterns showrunner addressed why Kerry Kane really left Gotham. Lanterns introduced a new love interest for Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan: Kelly MacDonald's Kerry Kane, a member of the Sheridan County Sheriff's Department. Despite having built a life and Manhunter-filled family in Rushville, Kane's origins are in Batman's hometown of Gotham City, which she fled many years before the HBO series, and was saved by Poorna Jagannathan's Zoe Macon.
The DCU drama established that Kerry grew up being neglected by her father, who was part of a criminal organization that ultimately killed him in 2007 after discovering that he was a snitch. She fled Gotham toward Rushville, where her car broke down, and she was confronted by members of that same criminal organization in a local diner, only to be rescued by Zoe, aka the Manhunter.
Lanterns Season 1 never confirmed who Kerry Kane fled Gotham City to escape, but showrunner Chris Mundy addressed the matter with CBR. The DCU writer was hesitant to answer who was after Kerry "in case it comes up" in a future project, but he suggested that the writers' room "all kind of know" who it was:
"We’ve never really gotten into it, so I don’t want to say specifically, in case it comes up [later]. But [it’s] the criminal underworld in Gotham. We’ve discussed it a lot, and we would have an answer in about 30 seconds! Because we didn’t answer it on screen as a collective, we never said, ‘OK, definitively we’re going to say this.’ But we all kind of know."
Find out which two Batman characters may have been teased in Lanterns.
Who Was Kerry Kane Fleeing Gotham From in Lanterns?
Gotham City is one of the most terrifying, crime-ridden places in the DC universe, so fans are truly spoiled for choice in guessing who Kerry was fleeing. However, there's no guarantee that Lanterns or the rest of the DCU will ever directly confirm which part of Gotham's criminal underworld the Kane family was tied up with.
Two Gotham gangsters were sent after Kerry by an unnamed "boss" because of her association with her "snitch" father. The most probable explanation is that either Carmine Falcone or Salvatore Maroni's rival crime families are to blame, although both are featured in Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise and are therefore unlikely to appear in the DCU anytime soon.
Many fans' minds are bound to turn to the Penguin or Black Mask, but the Kanes could also have been involved in the Court of Owls, an ancient order of Gotham's elite who control the city from the shadows. Kerry Kane bears the same surname as Martha Wayne's maiden name and Batman's cousin Kate (aka Batwoman), making it entirely possible that she is from the very same wealthy Gotham family who could conceivably have been involved with the Court of Owls.
There are other lesser-known gangsters out there in Gotham, such as Rupert Thorne, who was behind Doctor Phosphorus' creation in Creature Commandos, or the currently-unconfirmed criminals who will scar Matt Hagen in Clayface. That certainly goes to show how Gotham is a cesspool of crime, even beyond the iconic Batman villains, and how Kerry could have been fleeing truly anybody.
Lanterns confirmed that Kerry Kane was, in fact, the one who killed Hal Jordan, as she panicked when the former Green Lantern realized that her son, Noah Macon, was actually a Manhunter, acting on impulse to protect her family. Despite that, Kerry walked free with no repercussions for Hal's murder, as co-creator Tom King told The Ringer-Verse that "prison isn't worse than the feeling of guilt."
As Kerry will seemingly live on in Rushville without consequences, this raises an interesting question: will audiences see her in the DCU again? HBO and DC Studios are officially in early development on Lanterns Season 2, but there is a high chance the show will trade out Rushville for a brand-new location and supporting cast, perhaps one better suited to sci-fi storytelling.
