The new Lanterns trailer premiered at Comic-Con on Friday, and it does three things the earlier teasers held back: it shows Sinestro, it confirms Guy Gardner is turning up, and it names the enemy.
The series premieres August 16 on HBO, running eight episodes.
Sinestro, in a cell
The trailer's headline reveal is the first look at Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, in a shot that appears to show Hal Jordan visiting him in a prison cell.
For anyone who has not read the comics, that image carries most of the show's future in it. Sinestro was a Green Lantern before he was a villain — Jordan's mentor, the Corps' most decorated officer, and eventually its most dangerous enemy, leading a rival corps powered by fear rather than will. Putting him on screen in a cell, talking to Hal, rather than in a fight, is a fairly precise signal about what kind of show this is.
The Manhunters are the threat — and they can be anyone
The season's antagonists are the Manhunters, an ancient robotic race that preceded the Green Lantern Corps.
The trailer's most consequential detail is that they shape-shift and can look like anyone. That reframes what has been sold as a murder mystery. A detective story where the killer can wear any face is not really a whodunit; it is a paranoia story, and it explains why the show was built around two investigators rather than a superhero team.
Guy Gardner crosses over from the movies
Nathan Fillion appears as Guy Gardner, the role he played in Superman. It is a cameo rather than a co-lead, but it matters structurally: this is a direct, on-screen link between the DC Universe films and its television arm, which is the thing this whole strategy is being judged on.
The trailer also gestures at broader Justice League connections, and there is a healthy amount of fan theorizing about Parallax and additional Lanterns. Those are readings of a trailer, not announcements, and worth treating that way.
The cast and who made it
Kyle Chandler plays Hal Jordan, the veteran. Aaron Pierre plays John Stewart, the newer Lantern learning the job. The supporting cast is unusually heavy for a superhero series: Kelly Macdonald, Laura Linney, Jason Ritter, J. Alphonse Nicholson and Jasmine Cephas Jones.
Lanterns was created by Tom King — the comics writer behind some of DC's most acclaimed recent runs — and Damon Lindelof, with Chris Mundy as showrunner. That combination tells you the intent: a grounded, character-driven crime story that happens to involve power rings, closer to a limited-series prestige drama than to a costumed team-up.
Whether that holds for eight episodes is the question August will answer. The trailer suggests the show knows exactly which kind of story it is telling, which is more than most superhero television manages to communicate before it airs.
