Lanterns Ending Explained: Who Killed Hal Jordan?

Contains spoilers for "Lanterns"

"Lanterns" has come to an end ... at least for now hopefully. While Green Lanterns are usually depicted as space cops, "Lanterns" was surprisingly grounded with a lack of aliens and other worlds. Instead, we saw Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and his protege/replacement John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) investigate the last remaining manhunter in Rushville, Nebraska. But the finale sees John embrace his fear to become the next Green Lantern. For a full breakdown of the past season and finale, watch Looper's video above.

"Lanterns" Episode 1 seemingly killed off a major DC character with the revelation that Hal Jordan gets murdered in 2026. A lingering question in the back of fans' minds is who did it, and the finale reveals it was Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald).

Following the destruction of Rushville in Episode 5, Hal takes the heat and winds up in federal prison for 10 years. During that time, he struck up a romance with Kerry, and after getting out, he moves back to Rushville to be with her. However, no one likes him much, and his house gets torched. Noah (Shea Pritchard) saves him, revealing that he's actually the final manhunter, not Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan). Hal wants to kill Noah, but Kerry, as his mother, wants to protect him, so she kills Hal. But even though Hal's mysterious death is determined, there's still the matter of a manhunter on the loose.

Earlier on in "Lanterns," we learn about the manhunters. This was the Guardians of the Universe's first attempt at an intergalactic police force that eventually committed genocide against an entire alien race. Hal and John thought one, Zoe, remained on Earth. But 10 years after killing Zoe, Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen) tells John how Noah rescued him from prison and left him on a barren world to forge a lantern to charge a Green Lantern ring. Noah is actually the last manhunter, so John must deal with him.

After returning to Earth, Noah reveals he's constantly at war within himself. Should he just be a normal guy or try taking over the planet? John, too, is at war with his own "programming," as he's pretty much been raised to assume the mantle of Green Lantern, something he walked away from 10 years ago. The central question of "Lanterns" is: Can people change? John seems to think so.

John knows Noah is a manhunter, but he's not going to kill him. Instead, he'll use Hal's old ring and the lantern Sinestro made to become another Green Lantern of Earth. John instructs fellow Green Lantern (Guy Gardner) to give the Guardians a message: "That if they search their hearts, I know they'll find it within themselves to let me be."

The emphasis on "hearts" reiterates that John knows the Guardians of the Universe made the manhunters in the first place, so he's sticking around in case Noah goes rogue. For a greater breakdown, check out Looper's video above.