The lanterns release date is now tied to August 16, after HBO Max released the first five minutes of Lanterns and showed where the story begins. The preview opens in 1996, with young John Stewart watching Hal Jordan’s first public interview, giving Fans of Lanterns an early read on how the DCU is setting up Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
1996 Opens the Timeline
The first five minutes do more than tease tone. Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, introduces himself in public as “just a regular person,” while the interview identifies him as the first Green Lantern of Earth. By that point, he has been Earth’s Green Lantern for almost a decade, which places the series well before the kind of fully established hero history many viewers may have assumed.
James Gunn announced the project in 2023, and this preview now gives that announcement a clearer shape. The release strategy is straightforward: show the opening stretch, establish the two leads, and let the timeline do part of the selling before August 16 arrives.
Aaron Pierre in 2016
The preview also makes Aaron Pierre in the role of John Stewart part of the point, not just the cast list. His character is framed as a young observer in 1996, then the narrative jumps to 2016, which signals that Lanterns is using time as structure rather than just backdrop. That move is a clean way to introduce a legacy hero without waiting for the audience to catch up later.
“HBO has released the first five minutes of "Lanterns". These take place in 1996 and we see a young John Stewart watching the first public interview with Hal Jordan, who is revealing his identity as Green Lantern. By then, Hal has been the first Green Lantern of Earth for several years.” That breakdown turns the teaser into more than a clip: it sets the show up as a timeline story, not just a two-character team-up.
Green Lanterns Before Superman
The preview suggests Green Lanterns were active on Earth before Superman in the DCU timeline, which complicates the usual assumption about when this superhero history starts. If Hal has already been Earth’s Green Lantern for almost a decade by 1996, then Lanterns is not beginning at the origin of the myth — it is widening it.
“Oh my god it's all a prequel?” is the reaction the clip invites, and that is the practical takeaway for viewers: August 16 is no longer just a date, but the point at which this timeline choice becomes the show’s opening fact. Fans of Lanterns who want the cleanest read on the series should treat this preview as the map for how Hal Jordan and John Stewart will be introduced.
