If you’re like us, you’ve been seeing people teasing this trailer for weeks. It seems some influencers got early peeks at it. Finally, at last, here’s the real deal from DC and HBO Max. Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.

In this reimagining of the Hal Jordan story, he’s getting old, and training his replacement: John Stewart. In this eight episode mini-series, it’s Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, with Aaron Pierre as John Stewart. Also fillout out the cast are Nathan Fillion, reprising his Superman role as Guy Gardner, Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry, and Ulrec Thomsen as Sinestro.

HBO Max announced in January 2023 that plans for a Green Lantern series produced by Greg Berlanti had been dropped and the service would instead focus on the announced Lanterns series from James Gunn and Peter Safran. Announced back in 2019, Berlanti’s Green Lantern series was originally said to “span several decades and focus on the origin stories of two major Green Lanterns on Earth,” and also feature the villain Sinestro. That was changed in late 2022 when it was announced it would instead only focus on Lantern John Stewart. Gunn and Safran’s new production will feature both John Stewart and Hal Jordan. According to Gunn, their show will be “more of a True Detective-type mystery, a terrestrial-based mystery that leads into the overall story that being told throughout the different movies and television shows [in the DC Universe].

There are differences from the Green Lanterns we know. The suits don’t manifest from the ring. Now it’s something on a hanger you could send to the dry cleaners. Stewart and Jordan apparently share one ring between them, which seems to violate the way the power rings have always worked in the past, where the rings are distributed from Oa and choose their own masters. When Jordan flies, there’s no enveloping green glow the way there has been with virtually every incarnation of Green Lantern until Guy Gardner’s version in Superman, when he flew without one. And, in this series Hal is depicted as John Stewart’s mentor, almost thirty years his senior. In the comics, Stewart is Hal’s backup and is older than Jordan.

We’ve seen Aaron Pierre before; he played Dev-Em in the ill-fated series 2018 series Krypton. Kyle Chandler said of his new role, “I have never had so much fun shooting something as I did [Lanterns]. Aaron Piere, he and I had a great time.”

Here’s hoping that enthusiasm lifts Lanterns up out of the desert grit within which the series appears to be based. It looks well enough made, but if you were expecting a more traditional portrayal of these two legendary Lanterns, you’ll have to adjust your expectations a bit.