Lanterns teaser swaps superhero hijinks for gritty realism

James Gunn and Peter Safran injected a much-needed shot of levity into the DC Universe when they took over the franchise and launched their “Gods and Monsters” chapter.  But they’re getting a bit more serious with the latest installment: Lanterns, an eight-episode series that reimagines the Green Lantern mythology as a gritty prestige crime drama/spy thriller in the vein of True Detective and Slow Horses.

The logline says the show will focus on two versions of the Green Lantern who find themselves “drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American Heartland” (i.e., Nebraska). Will it work? We’ll see. This series was barely on my radar before, but the extended teaser that dropped last night is tonally unique for the DCU and so well done that the show now has a place on my must-watch TV list for 2026.

Kyle Chandler ...