‘Lanterns’ First Teaser Shines Light on Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre’s Chemistry and Conflict

Superheroics are at a minimum in the first teaser for Lanterns, but HBO’s take on the DC Comics characters also doesn’t shy away from the lore of the Green Lantern Corps.

Throughout its development, HBO and Lanterns’ creative team — co-creators and writers Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King — have emphasized that the show will be an Earth-based one, citing HBO’s True Detective as a comparison. The two-minute teaser (watch it below) stays true to that idea: There’s a shot of Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan taking flight and a brief look at a (beat-up, faded) Green Lantern suit, but the vibe is much more Southwestern murder mystery than intergalactic adventure.

Still, a nod to the history of the comics comes right away, when new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) gripes to Hal that in two months of training, he has yet to wear the Green Lantern Corps ring. “Don’t get hung up on the jewelry, Junior,” Hal tells him. “You’re just a fuckin’ substitute teacher. You’re not ready to get up in front of the class till the ring says you are” — in keeping with the long-standing canon that the rings choose their wearers.

That moment is bookended at the end of the teaser when Stewart asks Jordan if he talks to the other Lantern Corps members. “I’m the only human,” Jordan replies. “They’re aliens. One of them’s a fuckin’ squirrel.”

In between, Jordan and Stewart become involved with “a murder in the American heartland,” as the show’s logline puts it, and Stewart bristles at what he sees as Jordan’s refusal to step aside. The teaser also features Kelly Macdonald as a local cop investigating the murder. Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan and Ulrich Thomsen also star.

HBO says Lanterns will premiere in August. The series comes from DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television. Mundy (Ozark) is the showrunner and executive produces with Lindelof (Watchmen, The Leftovers), King, DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, Ron Schmidt and James Hawes, who directed the first two episodes. Stephen Williams, Geeta Vasant Patel and Alik Sakharov also directed episodes.