Even though Clayface’s chilling new trailer has held the bulk of my recent attention, I’m still beyond pumped for the upcoming DC TV show Lanterns as the official next entry in the live-action DCU. Especially now that we’re less than a month away from seeing Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan suited up and investigating a mysterious murder alongside Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart. Lots of questions still remain, however, with comic book sorta-villain Sinestro at the heart of many.
In the new series streaming via HBO Max subscription, Sinestro (played by Ulrich Thomsen) is a former member of the Green Lantern Corps who was corrupted by the fearful energy of yellow light, and was booted from the Corps after a coup gone wrong. But before all of that, he shared a history with Hal Jordan, serving as a friend and mentor, so one can imagine how shaken up Hal was by the betrayal.
Star Kyle Chandler addressed that key relationship and more in an interview with EW. The Friday Night Lights vet is a practical guy, and both he and Aaron Pierre took more grounded approaches to exploring their characters' backstories. Speaking directly about Hal and Sinestro's past, Chandler shared:
It was really interesting, because you’re getting into all kinds of different weeds of what goes on in their relationship in the past, a lot of which, for myself, is very personal. I created little things for myself with him that that created a relationship that was very intimate and intense.
It sounds like the actor was being as vague as humanly possible as not to reveal anything too specific, but that isn't stopping me from being beyond excited about it. I wonder if all the "little things" Chandler created for the characters will be explored on-screen, or if they're only in his head to bring more context to his performance.
While viewers don't yet have a clear idea of what Hal was like before things went sour with Sinestro, everything we've seen in Lanterns' previews makes him look overly pompous and lacking in empathy, patience, and several other virtues. Was he always like that, or did that hard-edged nature only start to form after Sinestro embraced fear?
I really hope we get to actually see Hal and Sinestro working together with the Green Lantern Corps in at least one episode. I'm perfectly fine with just hearing about their history through dialogue, but showing is always more functional than just telling.
To that end, I'm also eager to see how much Lanterns will showcase Hal's relationship with Carol Ferris, since she's also been known as a cause for Hal's brusque personality. (Also, is Laura Linney portraying Carol or what?) The fact that we haven't had a clear introduction for her makes me wonder if something awful happened to her, and if Sinestro was possibly responsible for it.
I guess I could spend all day speculating about what might go down when Lanterns arrives, but let's just watch the latest trailer instead.
Fear not, for Lanterns will make its debut on HBO Max on Sunday, August 16.
