Lanterns Rumors That Turned Out To Be Totally False

And so the inaugural season of "Lanterns," the first live-action show expressly made for the DC Universe (rather than inherited from the DC Extended Universe like "Peacemaker"), has wrapped up. Over the course of the program, in which John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) investigated cosmic machinations in Rushville, Nebraska, audiences met both new characters and fresh live-action incarnations of key Green Lantern figures like Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen). As you can see in our video above, however, much of the endless pre-release chatter and speculation about what "Lanterns" would be ended up being off the mark.

While the reception to the show was strong, with many considering "Lanterns" the mystery thriller the DCU needed, various predictions for HBO's "Lanterns" series never came to fruition no matter how logical they looked from afar. This included rumors that the Red Lanterns lore from the comics would get introduced here, especially since the storyline related to the Manhunters and Anataan (Paul Ben-Victor) seemed to correlate to the notion that the latter character would be the very first Red Lantern, Atrocitus. Instead, "Lanterns" had other storytelling matters to focus on, related to new characters Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) and her son Noah (Shea Pritchard).

But Red Lanterns storylines were just the tip of the iceberg. The expansive world of the Green Lantern comics mythology meant that there were countless rumors related to "Lanterns" that never saw the light of day, at least this season.

Two key pre-release "Lanterns" rumors centered on the idea that a pair of pivotal Green Lantern baddies from the comics would be in the show. Part of the dark history of Green Lantern is that Hal Jordan is eventually possessed by Parallax and becomes a villain. Some felt that this bleak corner of the history of the Green Lantern Corps was being teased through Hal Jordan's immensely antagonistic nature in "Lanterns." Instead, Jordan's struggles remained Earthbound and his crueler impulses were directly rooted in himself rather than the influence of Parallax.

Then there was Black Hand, a famous DC Comics foe that people were convinced Garret Dillahunt was actually playing in the show instead of William Macon. Though there was potential to make Macon a surprise comic book baddie (like the 10 best MCU villains we never saw coming), the rancher remained himself throughout the show's initial episodes. It was his wife, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), who was actually a Manhunter in disguise. Speaking of Manhunters, all the discussion and speculation over Black Hand and Parallax took attention away from any speculation (if such existed) of the Manhunters being in "Lanterns," making the presence of those DC Comics enemies extra surprising.

Other "Lanterns" rumors that never came to pass included ideas about Sinestro being a secret ultimate bad guy pulling all the strings and Hal Jordan getting brought back to life in the finale. The bottom line? The cosmos is infinite, and if you check out our video, you'll see that "Lanterns" inspired similarly limitless speculation from its fanbase.