5 Shows To Watch If You Like Lanterns

Under the steady hand of James Gunn, who's been making great comic book content for some time now, the TV side of the DC Comics Universe, or DCU, is finally starting to thrive ... thanks to two big HBO hits. We'll talk about the first major DCU TV show shortly, but ultimately, that successful series was joined in 2026 by "Lanterns," a new take on the Green Lantern mythos starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre with Chris Mundy as its showrunner. 

Mundy, who developed the series alongside Damon Lindelof (whose name you'll also see elsewhere on this list) and comic book scribe and artist Tom King, gives us a gripping, fun, and surprisingly dark series about Hal Jordan (Chandler), a longtime member of the Green Lantern Corps that counts intergalactic peacekeepers in its ranks who hopes to finally retire. Before Hal can hang up his magically powered Green Lantern ring, he has to find and train a replacement — and he finds said replacement in John Stewart (Pierre), who was handpicked to join the Corps by the Guardians of the Universe rather than being chosen by a ring, which is the typical route.

While "Lanterns" has been casually described as "'True Detective' with aliens," we actually think it bears more similarities to a handful of other shows — all but one of which also happen to be HBO productions. From other shows about comic book characters in fresh new settings to another great HBO buddy series to one of Chandler's defining TV roles, here are five shows you should check out if you love "Lanterns" — which itself earned a great review right here at Looper.

Remember Damon Lindelof from like, one minute ago? After working on "Lost" and earning acclaim for his HBO series "The Leftovers," Lindelof made his triumphant return to the premium network in 2019 with the miniseries "Watchmen," the second major adaptation of the DC comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Wisely, Lindelof didn't attempt a 1:1 adaptation like Zack Snyder's oft-maligned 2009 movie "Watchmen" but instead built out a sort of sequel to the comics, casting Oscar winner Regina King as Angela Abar, a member of the Tulsa Police who, by night, wears a costume and operates as Sister Night.

Tulsa is more important here than you might think, if you haven't seen "Watchmen" or aren't current on your civil rights history. Something particularly special that Lindelof does with this comic book adaptation is weave real history into the narrative, which he does by restaging the very real and extremely horrifying Tulsa race massacre that occurred in 1921. This ties into Angela's heritage, and elsewhere in the show, we're reunited with familiar Watchmen characters like Adrian Vendt (Jeremy Irons), also known as Ozymandias, and Laurie Blake (Jean Smart), who used to life a dual life as Silk Spectre. As for Doctor Manhattan, he's actually Angela's husband Cal Abar, both of whom are played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

"Watchmen" is a phenomenal miniseries with something for everyone, and if you like "Lanterns," you can't miss this one. Plus, with Lindelof involved in both, there's some creative connective tissue to boot.

It's easy to assume that, after "Game of Thrones" — the once massively successful adaptation of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels — came to a pretty rough end on HBO in May of 2019, people largely lost interest in the fictional world of Westeros and all of its political intrigue, bloody battles, and dragons. Still, HBO kept trucking along. The first prequel and spin-off, "House of the Dragon," which concerns itself with the Targaryen civil war known as the "Dance of the Dragons" that ends in tragedy, tears, and bloodshed (and both directly and indirectly sets up the conflict that happens many years later on "Game of Thrones" surrounding Emilia Clarke's apparent sole descendant Daenerys Targaryen), premiered in 2022. So why are we talking about "Game of Thrones" at all, and what does it have to do with "Lanterns?"

Because the 2026 Game of Thrones show, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," is a buddy comedy-drama just like "Lanterns" — and like "Lanterns," it's excellent. Breathing new life into the world of Westeros, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," created by showrunner Ira Parker and Martin, adapts Martin's novella series "Tales of Dunk and Egg" that center around the massively tall "hedge" (read: freelance) knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), his diminutive and secretly highborn squire Aegon "Egg" Targaryen (Dexter Sol Ansell), and their adventures. If you love "Lanterns," keep scrolling on HBO Max, find "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," queue it up, and enjoy.

If you only know Kyle Chandler from "Lanterns," somehow, you need to make your way through his full body of work ... and aside from movies like "Game Night" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" where Chandler plays phenomenal supporting roles, Friday Night Lights" is a true must-watch. Chandler leads the series — which is adapted from the 1990 nonfiction book "Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream" by H.G. Bissinger and, to a lesser extent, Peter Berg's 2004 movie by Berg himself and showrunner Jason Katims — as Coach Eric Taylor, who's in charge of the massively successful high school football team the Dillon Panthers.

During the show's pilot, Eric, his wife Tami (Connie Britton), and daughter Julie (Aimee Teagarden) are horrified to watch as star quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter) suffers from an injury to his spinal cord that leaves him permanently unable to walk. As Coach Taylor tries to keep the spirits of Jason's fellow Panthers — like fullback Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), new quarterback Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), and Matt's best friend Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons), as well as Jason's cheerleader girlfriend Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) — high, he also deals with the ups and downs of his home life and tries to hold his own against the intense Dillon community, all of whom are intensely invested in the Panthers. "Friday Night Lights" is more than just a great showcase for Chandler's talent and range, but it's also just an excellent show that featured future megastars like Plemons and even Michael B. Jordan early in their careers.

The really cool thing about "The Penguin," Lauren LeFranc's HBO acclaimed and award-winning miniseries that dropped in 2024, is that you don't need to care about DC Comics at all to enjoy this gripping, gritty crime thriller that sees Colin Farrell reprising his role as the villainous Oswald "Oz" Cobb — also known as the Penguin in Gotham — that he originated in the Matt Reeves Batman film in 2022. Obviously, the experience is deepened if you are familiar with the Penguin and his origin in DC Comics, but thanks to LeFranc's thoughtful storytelling, "The Penguin" isn't explicitly tied to the villain's lore and is, instead, a fascinating character study of both Oz and his surprising new enemy, Cristin Milioti's vengeful Sofia Gigante, née Falcone.

Sofia's name change actually happens partway through "The Penguin" when, after she's released from a forced stay at the Arkham State Hospital, is furious at her crime boss father Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong) for putting her there in the first place. As Sofia sets out to regain power of the criminal underworld of Gotham, she finds a natural nemesis in Oz, who wants to maintain his own grip on the city's seedy underbelly while also looking after his ill mother Frances Cobb (Deirdre O'Connell) and working alongside his new young mentee and acolyte Victor "Vic" Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz). "Lanterns" is considerably more lighthearted than "The Penguin," but both of them are fresh, exciting, and well-done looks at comic book characters you know and love.

When it comes to official DCU TV projects overseen, in his capacity as the studio head, by James Gunn, there are only two as of this writing: "Lanterns" and "Peacemaker." "Peacemaker," which counts Gunn himself as its showrunner, premiered on HBO in early 2022 with wrestler turned actor John Cena portraying the titular Peacemaker. As the super-patriotic Chris Smith, who masquerades as the vigilante known as Peacemaker and is forced under duress to join the organization A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans, which is helmed by Viola Davis's Amanda Waller), Cena is his reliably charismatic and hilarious self, and he's joined by quite a cast.

"Orange is the New Black" standout Danielle Brooks shows up as Waller's daughter Leota Adebayo, "Harry Potter" and "Game of Thrones" bit player Freddie Stroma gets a bigger showcase as Adrian Chase, a mentee of Peacemaker's who uses the name Vigilante, and comedic secret weapon Steve Agee is on hand as John Economos, an A.R.G.U.S strategist who helps the gang fight various enemies. "Peacemaker" is a loud, delightful, and incredibly audacious series that goes to some seriously wild places during its Season 2 finale, and if this show and "Lanterns" are the future of the DCU on the small screen, then that future certainly looks bright.

"Lanterns," along with all of these shows save for "Friday Night Lights," is streaming on HBO Max. As for "Friday Night Lights," that's on Paramount+.