John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) in Lanterns
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Here’s when Lanterns episode 3 drops as a sneak peek reveals return of Superman star

His return could help to explain a major DCU mystery

Daisy Phillipson
30th August 2026, 15:40
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A new clip from Lanterns episode three shows a character from the DCU’s Superman is set to return, and it will tie into one of the biggest mysteries surrounding Hal Jordan’s (Kyle Chandler) fate.

Much of the Green Lantern series takes place in 2016, as Hal and the newly recruited John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) are drawn into a mysterious murder. But the episode one ending took us to 2026, with John returning to Rushville and making a grim discovery in the town’s football stadium: Hal’s dead body. 

We’re no closer to finding out who killed him, but his death at least fits in with the timeline established in James Gunn’s DCU. Significantly, Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner is Earth’s main Green Lantern in the present day. 

We already knew Gardner was going to make an appearance in Lanterns, we just didn’t know when. But that all changed this week with the arrival of a new clip from episode three, showing Gardner visiting Stewart in prison – and he wastes no time in flashing Hal’s ring in his face.

Lanterns co-creator Tom King has confirmed that it’s Gardner who ends up with Hal’s ring – not Stewart, despite Hal spending much of the 2016 storyline training the rookie to eventually succeed him.

That means by the time we meet Gardner in Superman, which takes place shortly before Lanterns’ 2026 storyline, he has already effectively taken Hal’s place while Stewart is seemingly no longer operating as a Green Lantern at all.

And that’s one of the show’s biggest unanswered questions. We know where all three men end up in 2026 – Hal dead, Gardner wielding his ring and Stewart in prison. But we still have absolutely no idea what happened between them to get there.

Episode three’s reunion could start filling in some of the missing pieces… 

Here’s the exact release time of Lanterns season 1 episode 3

Lanterns episode three drops on Sunday, August 30, at 6pm PT and 9pm ET. If you’re in the US, you can watch it live on the HBO channel or on HBO Max.

The rest of the world can watch it on HBO Max. We’ve listed several timezones below so you know when to tune in: 

  • 8pm CT (Central Time)
  • 2am BST (UK Time, Monday)
  • 3am CEST (Central European Summer Time, Monday)
  • 6:30am IST (India Standard Time, Monday)
  • 10am JST (Japan Standard Time, Monday)
  • 11am AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time, Monday)
  • 1pm NZST (New Zealand Standard Time, Monday)

There’s something else you should know – the episode three runtime is 54 minutes.

Full release schedule

Lanterns isn’t releasing multiple episodes in one go. So, it’ll follow a standard weekly schedule through to the finale, with eight episodes in season one.

The full release schedule is as follows:

  • Episode 1 – August 16
  • Episode 2 – August 24
  • Episode 3 – August 31
  • Episode 4 – September 7
  • Episode 5 – September 14
  • Episode 6 – September 21
  • Episode 7 – September 28
  • Episode 8 – October 5

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Featured image credit: HBO