Hal Killer, Manhunter Revealed, Sinestro’s Yellow Lantern

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the “Lanterns” finale, now streaming on HBO Max.

Have no fear, the “Lanterns” finale is here.

The season finale — or possibly the series finale, since HBO hasn’t renewed the show yet — wrapped up the mystery posed by the show’s premiere of who killed Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler). The episode, titled “Dirt and Stars,” also revealed the identity of the second Manhunter, and set up how John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) becomes Earth’s sole Green Lantern in DC Studios’ forthcoming “Superman” sequel, “Man of Tomorrow.”

The episode starts back in 2016 Rushville in the aftermath of the town’s destruction from the first Manhunter attack. Sheriff Kerry (Kelly Macdonald) finds Hal in the wreckage, and then it’s revealed that she picks him up from prison in 2026 after he’s released, waiting with beer and flowers. With their feelings for each other blossoming, the two go out for dinner, which is full of Rushville patrons with lingering hatred for Hal. Kerry defends him in front of everyone, the two later sleep together and Kerry invites Hal to her son Noah’s (Shea Pritchard) football game. However, Hal’s house is firebombed in the middle of the night, and he doesn’t manage to escape. Hal wakes up on the floor of a strange lab with Noah standing over him, explaining that he replaced Hal’s burnt skin using the same Manhunter technology that had healed John in 2016. After much speculation online, Noah is the secret second Manhunter!

In present day, back on the planet decimated by the Manhunters, John interrogates Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen) and learns that Noah freed the villain from prison. Sinestro reveals that he harnessed the fear-inducing gas from the planet to create a new, yellow ring for Noah. As comics fans know, Sinestro is the creator of the Yellow Lanterns, an evil group opposed to the Green Lanterns who derive their power from fear. Sinestro offers John the chance to charge his depleted ring from the sinister, yellow lantern, but Hal’s hologram stops him, and they leave Sinestro marooned on the planet.

Noah ambushes John when he returns to Earth, the two drive back to Rushville together. Noah reveals that he didn’t burn down Hal’s house, but says he was the one who killed him. He claims he couldn’t let Hal reveal his identity as a Manhunter and the yellow lantern to Kerry. Noah says he’s trying to overcome his violent Manhunter programming, and asks that John kills him to protect everyone from what he might do. John doesn’t answer, but lets Noah go and play one last football game for Rushville.

John joins Kerry at Noah’s game and asks her about her son being a Manhunter, convinced that she knew all along. Then, in a flashback, we see the moments right before Hal’s murder and the truth is finally revealed. After Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan) saved Kerry and replaced her severed finger years ago with Manhunter technology, Kerry somehow got pregnant with Noah, who turned out to be a Manhunter like Zoe. Knowing Noah’s identity and fearing what he was planning, Hal confronted Kerry, and said they could run away and protect themselves. Kerry refused to leave, and in her fear, shot and killed Hal as he tried to reason with her by saying, “Goddamnit, I love you.” In the present, John assures Kerry that he won’t kill Noah, and instead lets her continuing raising him (as he goes on to play football at the University of Nebraska).

In the episode’s final moments, John calls Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) to Rushville and shows off his “unsanctioned” ring and lantern he took from Hal. John names himself the Green Lantern of Earth, in a sort of “independent contractor” role, and tells Guy to look after the stars while he protects the planet. Hal’s hologram appears and gives some last words of wisdom to John, saying he’s ready to take on the Green Lantern mantle. John tells the hologram that his final words to Kerry before his death were “I love you,” and the Hal replica repeats them earnestly back to John.

With his ring powered up, John flies over and drops off a bag of money as restitution to the waitress Maggie (Hannah Christine Shetler) who lost her family in the Manhunter attack. He also has a touching reunion with his family back home, including his estranged mother Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones). Finally, in a twist on the classic Green Lantern oath from the comics, John personalizes the phrase with an emphasis on his newfound accepting of his fear.

“In brightest day / in darkest night / I embrace my fear / I’ll do what’s right / I choose this ring / I choose this fight / in service to / this lantern’s light.

While there’s no word yet on “Lanterns” Season 2, despite the show’s strong ratings for HBO, we know that Pierre will reappear as John in next summer’s “Man of Tomorrow,” James Gunn’s “Superman” sequel. It may be an awkward reunion with Fillion’s Guy Gardner, but now we know how the two Green Lanterns from Earth have decided to split up their duties. How will things go when the two heroes come face to face? How will they team up with Superman, Supergirl and the fledgling Justice League when the alien Brainiac attacks? And could Chandler have a cameo as the hologram Hal within John’s ring? We’ll have to wait and find out when “Man of Tomorrow” continues the DC Universe’s story on July 9.