Lanterns Episode 6 Recap: John Stewart Can’t Outrun the Past

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Sep 21, 2026 - 12:00

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Lanterns Episode 6 Recap: John Stewart Can’t Outrun the Past

A man in a dark suit with his eyes closed, standing in a dimly lit room. — Source: HBO Max / Youtube

We’re in the home stretch, folks! Our time in 2016 seems to have come to a close as this week’s episode of Lanterns takes place entirely in 2026, with John unable to resist the siren call of his past despite having built a new life for himself.

John has reconnected with his younger brother, Marcus, and become an architect. Together they own a company specializing in high-grade panic rooms. He’s in Midway City, pitching officials on a large-scale shelter designed to protect people whenever a superpowered villain decides to enact chaos in the city.

The meeting appears to go well at first, until he gets a call from his mom, whom he’s now calling by her first name. Bernadette tells John that Hal Jordan wants to apologize for what happened in 2016. Apparently, she’s maintained a relationship with Hal since what happened in Rushville.

John clearly doesn’t take too kindly to that revelation.

John immediately drives back down to Rushville and meets Hal at the old cafe. Hal spent several years in prison after what happened in Rushville. They acknowledge Guy Gardner having the ring, and we also get a Batman reference when Hal explains that Guy put up a Lantern signal in Rushville as a “make-good” for what happened in 2016.

During this whole cafe sequence, I kept thinking to myself, “ God. Kyle Chandler was born to play Hal Jordan.”

The conversation quickly turns sour as they talk about what’s happened to them since 2016. Hal’s face conveys real remorse and heaviness over what happened in 2016. Hal tells John that his mom doesn’t understand why he gave up the ring, but he does. He says John was afraid, to which John responds with a mean punch. John takes off, but Hal pleads for him not to tell anyone he came to visit.

This would be the last time John sees Hal alive.

John’s seemingly built a nice life for himself post Rushville, but as soon as he gets back to his lavish home, he gets the call from Sheriff Kerry Kane that Hal’s been killed.

Kerry explains to John that Hal moved to Rushville to try and make amends with the people who lived there. She explains that Hal would spend every day knocking on doors and trying to see what he could do to help the townsfolk, only to face a persistent stream of rejection. His persistent efforts to try and make amends endeared him to Kerry. Kerry got divorced a few years after Zoe’s death, and she eventually struck up a relationship with Hal.

The manhunter incident has essentially made Rushville a living ruin. Nothing that was destroyed was ever rebuilt. Later in the episode, we learn FEMA didn’t even repair the school until Kerry’s son, Noah, repeatedly wrote them letters (which, sadly, isn’t far from reality).

Kerry gives John the key to a place Hal was renting in town. He immediately thinks he hears someone in the house, but it turns out it’s just Earl, the carnivorous, alien houseplant from earlier in the season. I didn’t know a plant could make me audibly go “awwww,” but Earl learning Hal is dead was so sad!

John meets up with Kerry at the cafe in the morning, where the server who saw him meet with Hal the night before tells Kerry that Hal was by himself the entire night before he died. John is keeping his cards to his chest and not revealing to Kerry that he was the last one to see Hal alive because he doesn’t want to be implicated in his murder.

John goes with Kerry to Hal’s autopsy, where the coroner spends most of the time trash-talking Hal and John. Rushville does not get down with either of them, and it’s understandable.

Zoe genuinely kept everyone safe and healthy in exchange for loyalty. I don’t necessarily think it can be defined as a cult because Zoe actually had something tangible to give the townsfolk. Zoe’s death was like the closure of a factory that provides most of the jobs in a small town.

The coroner reveals that Hal is going to be cremated because he has no family, but John suggests to Kerry that they bury him, which she agrees with. They find a key to a storage unit among his belongings, which reveals the interdimensional vault from earlier. The vault needs Hal’s voice to open, so John suggests Kerry plays a voicemail.

Kerry’s voicemail of Hal telling her why his new nickname for her is Buttercup is heartbreaking. You can hear how much Hal has changed since 2016, and there’s a real desperation in his attempt to be something more than a Green Lantern. The voicemail doesn’t work, so the vault will be a mystery for another episode.

John’s relationship with his parents seems to have deteriorated since 2016. His dad is in a nursing home for reasons that are still unclear. The home calls John and tells him that his dad has shot out a window and he has to be picked up. John calls his older brother Aaron to help, and he is initially not trying to be helpful at all until John threatens to cut him off.

John fires up the Green Lantern signal, which draws the ire of the townsfolk, including Kerry’s ex-husband Billy Macon. John handily beats all of their asses, but is sent to jail for assault.

Guy finally shows up while John is in jail and reveals that Sinestro has been busted out of space jail. Guy says that he can’t help John solve the murder of Hal Jordan because it’s “bad optics.” John doesn’t want his help investigating the murder; he simply wants Guy to get Hal’s uniform and ring so he can give him a military-style funeral. Guy initially rebuffs him until John says, “Everything you have is because I didn’t take it,” which, FACTS, but also BARS.

The entire scene does a solid job of showing why the Guardians chose Guy. He’s strong-willed, sure, but he’s also easily controlled and willing to go along with whatever he’s told to do. He’s always concerned about the optics.

After being bailed out of jail, John returns to Hal’s place and finds the server waiting outside. He learns she’s the same girl he saw at the motel when it was obliterated in 2016. She threatens to tell Sheriff Kane that he was the last one to see Hal if he doesn’t pay her over $300,000.

Everything is going south fast for John. Extortion, murder, a massive contract on the line. This episode really felt like John was torn between the life he was destined for and the life he’s built for himself.

The funeral is underway, and it’s revealed that Guy did what John asked, but he tells him that this makes them even. Also, CAROL FERRIS IN THE TRAP WHAT WHAT.

In the comics, Carol Ferris is Hal’s first and most consistent love who eventually receives a violet ring and joins the Star Sapphires (basically the Green Lantern Corps but they’re powered by love, not will). Carol alludes to her history with Hal, but it doesn’t appear as if she’s had any Lantern adventures of her own throughout the years.

Carol reveals that Hal wrote his own eulogy and asks that John read it. Hal understandably believing that his funeral would be attended by world leaders, celebrities, and other dignitaries was funny yet heartbreaking, as it shows how far he had fallen at the end.

After John reads the eulogy, we cut to John back at the cemetery, digging up Hal’s grave. John gets a call from his brother that the colonel they need to sell on their pitch has arrived. John asks to speak to him, and the colonel immediately hangs up. When John calls back, his brother reveals that the deal falls through because John wasn’t there. Marcus rightly clocks that both Hal and John haven’t been able to let go of what happened in 2016. It killed Hal; he just hopes it doesn’t kill John too.

John goes back for the ring. He uses Hal’s trick to restart the ring’s charge and generates a backup of Hal’s consciousness. Holo-Hal looks down into the grave, sees Hal’s corpse, and gives an understandable “goddammit.”

So Hal Jordan is dead, but for now, he’s not entirely gone. I’m so down to see not-Hal Jordan investigate his own death. With only two episodes left, we, ideally, are going to not only find out who killed Hal Jordan, but also see John Stewart finally take his place among the Green Lantern Corps.

Sunday can’t come fast enough, I tell ya.