When James Gunn took over the reins of the DC cinematic universe, it wasn't a huge surprise that he turned to HBO for the brand's TV arm. After all, he'd already had impressive success with the first season of Peacemaker at that point, and clearly enjoyed the fact that HBO freed him up to make TV shows that could lean into profanity in ways that Marvel seems more afraid of.
So, it was similarly unsurprising when he confirmed that another big part of the DC franchise, Green Lantern, would be coming to HBO and HBO Max rather than debuting in a feature film. Now, after months of anticipation, we finally have a first trailer for the resulting series, Lanterns.
I'll get the bad news out of the way first: the show won't arrive on HBO until August this year, which means we still have nearly half the year to wait, depending on when in the month it arrives. That makes this one of the earliest teaser trailers for a TV series I can remember seeing, but that's life.
That leads us to the good news, which is deeper, thankfully. The teaser shows off the main cast of the series, which will clearly revolve around the dynamic between Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler. Chandler plays Hal Jordan, one of the most famous Lanterns going, as he jadedly tries to train up Pierre as John Stewart, a newcomer who needs to earn the right to wear the all-powerful ring.
Stewart will clearly come to think as the series progresses that perhaps Jordan's living in the past, and could do with putting a bit more effort into things. That tension is likely to boil over at some point, I'd hope. Interestingly, it seems like the show might be rooted in one small-town location for its actual story, too.
That town is seemingly watched over by the always superb Kelly Macdonald as the local sheriff, and she's just as dubious of the Lanterns' arrival as anyone else. It's a bit gutting to learn that we're going to have to endure such a long wait before actually being able to watch the show, because this teaser is a it of a treat.
