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Published Aug 10, 2026, 10:59 AM EDT

The network is about to make another big genre play

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

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HBO established itself as the home for prestige drama with shows like The Wire and The Sopranos, but the 2011 premiere of Game of Thrones changed everything. The smash hit became the network’s biggest draw, leading HBO to try to keep fantasy fans subscribing by launching two spinoffs — House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

It’s going to be a while until you see more Targaryens on TV, since House of the Dragon season 3 ended on Sunday and the series won’t return until 2028. Season 2 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is expected to release next year. But the world of George R.R. Martin isn’t the only epic franchise HBO is currently adapting.

The popularity of Game of Thrones created several big-budget fantasy imitators like Netflix’s The Witcher and Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. It also inspired HBO to invest in other genres. It had mixed results testing science fiction with Westworld and post-apocalyptic horror with The Last of Us. One of its biggest successes blended mystery and superheroes with the Emmy-winning 2019 miniseries Watchmen, a continuation of the seminal graphic novel from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Now HBO is trying to replicate that winning mix with a new series that arrives next week.

Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof has teamed up with comics writer Tom King (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Mister Miracle) and Ozark showrunner Chris Mundy to create the superhero mystery Lanterns. While it’s set in the DC Universe, the series borrows heavily from the tone and structure of another HBO hit — the anthology mystery series True Detective. Like House of the Dragon, Lanterns focuses on complicated, flawed characters struggling to grab or hold onto power in a dangerous world. If the House of the Dragon finale has you looking for another series to watch Sunday night, here’s why you should give Lanterns a try.

What is Lanterns about?

The Green Lanterns are intergalactic peacekeepers, sometimes derogatorily called “space cops.” Each carries a ring that allows them to conjure anything they can imagine as solid green light. Test pilot Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) was chosen by one of these power rings to be the first Green Lantern of Earth. But the Guardians of the Universe have picked another human, the Marine and architect John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), to be a backup Lantern, and they've tasked Hal with training him.

Hal hates the idea of being replaced, so he’s not especially nice to his trainee. It creates a classic buddy cop dynamic as the arrogant veteran Hal and the highly disciplined and eager-to-learn John have to work together to investigate a murder in the small town of Rushville, Nebraska. The mystery involves the Manhunters, extremely dangerous extraterrestrials capable of taking on any form. Rooting out their influence will put the Lanterns, and everyone in Rushville, in danger.

How does Lanterns fit into the DCU?

Like Creature Commandos and Peacemaker, Lanterns is part of the rebooted DC Universe from DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) was introduced in Gunn’s Superman in 2025 and makes an appearance in Lanterns. Stewart is also expected to be in Gunn’s next movie, Man of Tomorrow.

While Gardner got to show off his powers in Superman, Lanterns goes into far more depth explaining the history and structure of the Green Lantern Corps and how their abilities actually function. While the Manhunters are the primary threat in the series, the show also introduces another iconic Green Lantern villain. Sinestro trained Hal but then betrayed the Corps to satisfy his own ambition, and the trailer reveals Hal is still getting advice from his former mentor.

Guy is a member of the proto-Justice League group, the Justice Gang, while Sinestro is a classic member of the supervillain group the Legion of Doom. The cosmic nature of Green Lantern stories also means they’ve been involved with some of the biggest threats to the galaxy in comics crossover events like Zero Hour and Blackest Night. Whatever dangers are introduced in Lanterns could easily spill over to the rest of the DCU.

How can you watch Lanterns?

Lanterns premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Aug. 16. New episodes will release each Sunday through Oct. 4.