Lanterns midseason trailer teases more Sinestro, Guy Gardner, and Hal Jordan's possible killer — and I have a new theory about how the former Green Lantern will be brought back to life

Guy Gardner, more Sinestro, Hal Jordan's possible killer... and a nod to a classic Green Lantern tale?

by · TechRadar

News By Tom Power Published 18 September 2026

Lanterns' final three episodes will see John Stewart investigate Hal Jordan's supposed death (Image credit: HBO/DC Studios)

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  • A midseason trailer for Lanterns has been released
  • It teases the appearance of Guy Gardner, more Sinestro, and Hal Jordan's possible killer
  • The HBO TV show might also be adapting one of the best Green Lanterns stories of all time

HBO and DC Studios have debuted a midseason trailer for their hit show Lanterns — and its 2026 storyline appears to be inspired by a fan-favorite Green Lantern comic-book series.

Released yesterday (September 17), the teaser, well, teases what's to come in the popular HBO Max TV series' final three episodes. Be aware that the following trailer is full of potentially big spoilers for Lanterns episode 6 through 8. If you don't want any plot points ruined ahead of time, click away now.

Lanterns | Midseason Trailer | HBO Max - YouTube

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I'm really not joking when I say the 90-second, hype-generating trailer for the DC Universe (DCU) TV show's final three entries contains myriad spoilers.

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For starters, Guy Gardner, aka Earth's new Green Lantern, is finally going to show up, although he has no interest in helping John Stewart investigate Hal Jordan's death (more on this shortly). Other takeaways are that we'll see Hal's backstory at some point, and John and what seems to be the Hal-O-Gram — aka the digital backup of Hal's consciousness that lives inside Hal's power ring — travel to some alien worlds.

Additionally, we'll be treated to more of Jordan's villainous former mentor Sinestro. Considering the latter isn't imprisoned in the space jail that we saw in episodes 2 and 4, he's obviously been broken out by someone. Place your bets on who did the deed.

It seems Sinestro will have a big role to play in Lanterns' last few episodes (Image credit: DC Studios/HBO max)

Furthermore, there's also a surprising albeit expectedly cold reunion between John and at-the-time alive Hal in 2026. They haven't seen each other since the devastating events of Lanterns episode 5, which occurred 10 years prior. Clearly, there's no love lost between John and Hal after their brutal showdown in that chapter's final act, too.

That said, there must be an ounce of underlying respect left, because Stewart sticks around Rushville to investigate Hal's apparent murder. We've known that Hal Jordan is supposedly dead since Lanterns episode 1, but it's only now that the DCU Chapter One program will shine a light on events before, during, and after Hal's presumed demise.

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