Wait, so is Hal Jordan really dead? Lanterns writer reveals truth behind shock ending

*Warning: Spoilers ahead for Lanterns episode one*

Lanterns made its anticipated premiere over the weekend, proving to live up to its promise of a superhero story with a True Detective edge. Taking place across multiple timelines, the ending of episode one jumps forward to 2026, when Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) has died… or has he?

A majority of the DCU premiere takes place 10 years earlier in 2016, introducing Hal as the veteran Green Lantern tasked with training newly recruited John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), a former Marine sniper who has been selected as his protégé.

The pair soon find themselves in Rushville, Nebraska, investigating a mysterious crime scene they believe is connected to extraterrestrial activity. But local sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) is skeptical and wants them out of there. 

Alongside the investigation, the episode establishes just how different the two Lanterns are. Hal is impulsive and abrasive, while John is far more restrained. And Hal’s unconventional training methods don’t exactly help matters – he literally jumps out of a moving car to force John to use his ring. 

But just as we start settling into what looks like the beginning of their reluctant partnership, Lanterns pulls the rug out. The story jumps forward a decade to 2026, with John returning to Rushville and making a grim discovery in the town’s football stadium.

Sitting alone in the bleachers is Hal’s frozen body, complete with what appears to be a gunshot wound to his head. Even more mysteriously, his Green Lantern ring is nowhere to be found. 

So yes, the HBO series really does appear to kill one of its two leading heroes in its very first episode, but there’s more to the ending than meets the eye. 

Lanterns writer clears up whether Hal Jordan is dead

Speaking to GQ, Lanterns writer Tom King confirmed that while Hal is dead in the present day timeline, this is a superhero show, meaning there’s always an opening to bring him back from the dead if it makes sense to the story. 

King, who shaped the series alongside Chris Mundy and Damon Lindelof, first recalled how the idea came about. After all, it’s not everyday you include the death of one of the leads in the very first episode. 

“I think Damon has a slightly different memory of it, so you should ask him. But my memory is, again, Damon and I were throwing ideas back and forth of where Hal is,” he explained. 

“The central thing we were solving was the mystery of the Superman movie. The Superman movie takes place today, contemporary to us, and Guy Gardner is the Green Lantern. Where are Hal and John? Why does Guy have the ring? We were figuring out other sorts of mysteries: Okay, where do we end? Why did this happen? 

“I remember I had the thought in my head: Hal is dead. I could see Damon have the same thought at the same time. I reached for a pen. I was sitting in this very chair I’m sitting in now, because we’re doing a Zoom. I wrote ‘Hal is dead’ on a card because I knew he was about to f**king say it. He goes, ‘Wait, Hal is dead.’ I held up my card.”

King went on to say, “But of course, this is superheroes. If anyone’s read my first book, my first thing I ever did in superheroes, it was a book that was about a superhero that thinks everyone can come back. So you absolutely never know.”

In short, Hal may return in the future. For now, he’s dead in the 2026 timeline but alive in 2016, where much of the Lanterns story is taking place. 

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Featured image credit: HBO Max