Our first glimpse at footage from DC Studios series Lanterns has arrived, featuring Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler and Krypton’s Aaron Pierre as members of the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps.
The clip, seemingly part of a longer showreel of upcoming series headed to HBO Max, offers our initial look at Chandler and Pierre’s characters following an earlier photo tease back in February of this year.
Lanterns has been pitched as a buddy cop detective drama with similarities to Slow Horses and True Detective, all set within James Gunn’s broader DC universe that was kickstarted this summer by blockbuster movie Superman and will continue next year with Supergirl.
First teaser for ‘LANTERNS’.
Releasing in 2026 on HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/DXJuYNtrXH
— DC Film News (@DCFilmNews) December 12, 2025
This series sees Green Lantern Corps veteran Hal Jordan (Chandler) paired with younger hero John Stewart (Pierre) in a “dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.” Today’s trailer sees the two space cops squabbling in a car, before it gets driven off of a cliff. It’s a dramatic moment, though it also seems like both of them will be fine.
According to DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran, speaking this week during an interview with CBR, Lanterns is now set to launch in the “late summer” of 2026, having previously been expected early next year.
“It was about when it made sense for it to be released, so [HBO Max] could get the right lead in, the right promotion,” Safran said. “Because it’s an important show for everybody, and the show is going to be great. It was about the right timing, so it’s going to be… it’s late summer. But there’s a reason for it.”
Intriguingly, this pushes Lanterns’ expected arrival window after the launch of Supergirl, which is set to arrive in theaters on June 26, 2026. Yesterday brought a first trailer for that DCU project, too, showing Milly Alcock’s hungover Kara Zor-El getting into trouble alongside her super canine sidekick Crypto.
As for how Lanterns will fit into the wider DCU, it has already been confirmed that the series will see the return of fellow Green Lantern Corps member Guy Gardner — once again played by Nathan Fillion, and introduce the villainous Sinestro, played by Ulrich Thomsen.
Image credit: HBO
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
