John Stewart may not be entirely truthful about his vegan status in Lanterns, and a new theory suggests he lied to Sheriff Kerry about it. The HBO series, which premiered August 16, has scattered mysteries across every episode, and the latest installment has viewers putting their investigative hats back on. The show follows Aaron Pierre's John Stewart and Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan as they unravel a mystery in rural Nebraska in 2016, ten years before the current events of the DCU.
Lanterns Episode 6 jumps ten years past the timeline the first five episodes centered on, catching up with John in a more mature phase of life in 2026. He's now an established architect, running a firm with his brother Marcus that builds panic rooms for the wealthy elite. This timeline reveals something odd as the episode progresses.
John, living a quiet civilian life, is pulled back to Rushville after his mother calls to tell him that Hal Jordan, freshly out of prison, wants to apologize. The reconciliation goes badly, and John punches Hal in the face, breaking his nose. Shortly after, Kerry calls to inform him that Hal is dead, and the two visit the town's stadium, where the former Green Lantern's body sits in the bleachers with a bullet in his head. The pair team up to figure out what happened and eventually set about organizing a funeral for him.
In the middle of all this, Kerry invites John to dinner. He initially declines, but she persuades him, telling him point-blank, "don't be rude." She makes her case by pointing out that she makes "the best meatloaf in Nebraska," then checks herself seconds later, remembering John is vegan, and apologizes.
John, however, reveals that he eats meat now. That's quite odd, since veganism is a strong position one doesn't randomly drift away from. John is a highly disciplined individual with tremendous willpower; it's improbable that he would stray from his convictions easily.
Besides, he's literally disgusted by meat. In Episode 4, when he infiltrates Macon's hidden facility, which doubles as a slaughterhouse, a cow is chopped into pieces by advanced alien tech, a scene that sickens him. He scoffs, "that's why I'm vegan."
The show has also established that he took up veganism as a subtle act of rebellion against his parents, who put him through a tough, abnormal childhood in their quest to train him into a fearless human worthy of wielding the Green Lantern ring. Episode 6 reveals that John has distanced himself from them, refusing to visit his father at his care facility and asking his older brother Aaron to step in instead. Meat represents the trauma John went through growing up.
During his training, his father would shoot apples off his head to test his fearlessness, and when he passed, the reward was hamburgers. Sometime after joining the Marines, John gave up meat as a way of leaving that past behind. With his relationship with his parents deteriorating even further, him taking up meat again makes no sense. Unless, of course, he's lying, and a new theory suggests he likely is.
John Stewart Might Be Lying About Abandoning Veganism
After taking Sheriff Kerry up on her meatloaf invite, John brings a pack of beer to her residence, as she demanded, and dines with her and her son. Over the meal, the trio discusses John's panic room venture, and Kerry even "busts his hump" as she shares her reservations about his choice of business.
When Kerry dishes out the meatloaf, she and Noah dig in immediately. John, on the other hand, dodges it entirely, carefully picking at the vegetables served alongside it. Anytime the camera pans to him, there's a carrot on his fork, and the meat goes untouched for the entire dinner.
Midway through, Kerry gets a call from her precinct informing her that John beat up her ex-husband, Billy, and four other men. She confronts him, and the dinner ends there. If it had lasted longer, maybe John would have touched the meatloaf, but the way he instinctively avoids it suggests he's likely lying about abandoning veganism.
Why would John lie, though? Some fans theorize he did it to secure more dinner invites at Kerry's place going forward. That would let him get closer to Noah, who continuously displays signs of being a Manhunter like his grandmother Zoe. John has shown sharp investigative instincts all season.
He's the one who discovered the weenie, the hidden edifice William Macon kept on his compound, with minimal clues to go on. He was also the first between him and Hal to uncover Zoe as a Manhunter. It's possible he grew suspicious of Noah and decided to embed himself with the family.
Admittedly, punching Kerry's ex-husband in the face wasn't the best call if that was the goal, though the two make up after John's night in the holding cell, and he attends Hal's funeral alongside Kerry and Noah. Noah hasn't been confirmed as a Manhunter, but given John's instincts, if the young man is one, he's likely figured it out by now, which would make lying about his vegan status to get closer to the family entirely logical, especially since it would make Noah a prime suspect in Hal's murder.
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.
