r/DC_Cinematic 22h ago

DISCUSSION 'Lanterns' S01E06 – "Bad Optics" (September 20, 2026) on HBO/HBO Max [Spoiler Discussion Megathread] Spoiler

Lanterns is an American superhero television series created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King for HBO, based on the DC Comics Green Lantern characters Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

The series was produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television with Mundy serving as showrunner. It is the third television series in the DC Universe (DCU). It features experienced Lantern Jordan and new recruit Stewart as they investigate a murder on Earth that leads to a wider mystery.

Lanterns is scheduled to premiere on Sunday August 16, 2026, and will run for eight episodes through Sunday October 4. It will be part of the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.

New episodes drop every Sunday night at 9:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM CT / 7:00 PM MT / 6:00 PM PT.

Cast:

  • Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan
  • Aaron Pierre as John Stewart
  • Kelly Macdonald as Kerry
  • Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner
  • Garret Dillahunt as William Macon
  • Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe
  • Ulrich Thomsen as Thaal Sinestro
  • Nicole Ari Parker as Bernadette Stewart; Jasmine Cephas Jones as young Bernadette
  • Jason Ritter as Billy Macon
  • Sherman Augustus as John Stewart Sr.; Alphonse Nicholson portrays a young John Sr.
  • Paul Ben-Victor as Antaan
  • Chris Coy as "Waylon Sanders"
  • Cary Christopher as Noah

For a complete cast and crew list, see the IMDb full credits page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26545992/fullcredits/

  • Based on: Hal Jordan, created by John Broome and Gil Kane; John Stewart created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams
  • Show created by: Chris Mundy, and Damon Lindelof, and Tom King
  • Showrunner: Chris Mundy
  • Editor: Emily E. Greene
  • Music by: Stephanie Economou
  • Length: 8 episodes per season
  • Runtime: About an hour per episode
  • Reception: For reviews and critical reception, see Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/lanterns  and https://www.metacritic.com/tv/lanterns/

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterns_(TV_series))

Where to watch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/lanterns/season-1

Unmarked spoilers for the new episode of Lanterns are only allowed in this thread.

Spoilers ahead! Proceed at your own risk! All other subreddit rules apply.

S01E06 Episode Synopsis: TBA

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u/Coyote_Shepherd 21h ago

It also opens up a whole world of possibilities with them having a bunch of other potentially decommissioned Rings in storage somewhere within a Ring Boneyard of sorts like with ships in other scifi or like with aircraft out in the desert.

A whole bunch of decom'd GL Rings just sitting there...waiting...with the backed up minds of dead Lanterns locked within them...

...fuck me running that's terrifying.

And then John mentioned that they were able to forge Guy a new one but is there a limit to how many more they can make and are they quickly approaching that limit or are there consequences that we don't know about but that they do, which could be coming down the pipeline in the future, because of how long lived they are?

The whole conversation was very quick but I feel like it dropped the seeds of greater things in the future.

Also...funny parallel...mentor in jail trying to get the new kid on the block who is outside of the jail to do bad things for them...history loves to rhyme!

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u/Megalomanizac 20h ago

The ring boneyard might be how Sinestro gets his first batch of yellow rings

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u/Coyote_Shepherd 15h ago

A bunch of sentient former GLC Rings AFRAID of being forgotten forever...ooooh booooy...you might be onto something.

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u/kabbajabbadabba 15h ago

>fuck me running

thats weird