SDCC ’26: First full Lanterns trailer lights up the Con

The DCU’s latest television show finally got a full trailer at Comic Con today. Take a look at Hal Jordan and John Stewart in Lanterns.

Lanterns, now with more Green

One of the biggest criticisms for HBO Max‘ upcoming Lanterns has been a lack of… green. The show being based on DC Comics’ Green Lantern after all, green light constructs were somewhat glaring omissions from pervious sneak peeks.

As of the trailer that’s just debuted at Comic Con though, there’s a bit more of those. But that’s not all. The early look also gets much deeper into the show’s story, talking about the villains, and how they play into the setting of a small town in the American midwest. Yes, it actually does make sense.

Before we get to anything more though, check out the trailer below.

The series follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery with cosmic ties as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.

HBO Max press release

A packed first look

We can’t help but be somewhat put off by John Stewart and Hal Jordan’s interactions. There’s an aggression present for this show that’s likely new for anyone who actually knows these heroes. Though, with the introduction of the villains, we’re wondering if there’s a very good explanation for that. If you watched the above trailer, then you know that we’re referring to the Manhunters.

In the pages of DC Comics, the Guardians created the Manhunters before they formed the Lantern Corps. And due to that, the robotic Manhunters performed more or less the same duties, serving as a galactic peacekeeping force. That was, until they went haywire and rebelled against their masters.

Though most of them were destroyed by the Guardians, a good chunk managed to go underground. There they created outposts on multiple worlds, including Earth, where they blended into the native populace, even creating groups of devotees. From the looks of Lanterns, those elements seem to be in play. And we can’t help but think that there’s something that ties all of it into that out-of-place attitude we mentioned above.

Other than the reveal of the Manhunters though, there were a few other cool things to pull from that above trailer. For one, there was Sinestro. Looking fairly spot-on, the villain meets with his former partner Hal in what we presume to be the sciencells at the Green Lantern HQ on OA. Pretty neat. Guy Gardner reappearing has us wondering if he might play a bigger part in the proceedings than we thought as well. And of course, it was great to get another look at some constructs in action.

With all of that, we have to admit that our interest in piqued. If yours is too, then you’ll be happy to know that Lanterns is set to take flight onto HBO for a Sunday, August 16th debut. Look for the show to air at 9:00pm, both eastern and pacific, and also be streaming on HBO Max.