HBO’s Lanterns Just Revealed a Major Finale Detail

Published Oct 7, 2026, 11:33 AM EDT Willa Rowe is a contributing writer at Polygon, covering games and entertainment. She is a New York-based journalist and critic whose work has been featured in Kotaku, Digital Trends, the A.V. Club, GamesRadar+, and more. She also co-hosts the Girl Mode podcast. John Stewart wields the 'Dark Lantern,' which sounds ominous Image: Warner Bros. Sign in to your Polygon.com account By the end of HBO's Lanterns, fans didn't get to see John Stewart wield the full might of his new power ring. We didn't even get to see him suit up like Hal Jordan did. Those are both events fans will likely have to wait to see in James Gunn's Man of Tomorrow, which is confirmed to include Aaron Pierre returning as Earth's unofficial Green Lantern. HBO's season finale did, however, give us a good look at John's unique new lantern, and now we know what it's called. To celebrate the end of season 1, series concept artist Ed Natividad posted renders of the new power battery on Instagram. These not only give us the best look at the object we've gotten so far, but also reveal that it has been dubbed the Dark Lantern. That's a pretty ominous name for something that a hero wields, but it does feel in line with where the show leaves John. As revealed in the season finale, the power battery (also called a lantern) was forged by Sinestro on an alien planet using the contaminated air and water. This pollution appears as yellow streaks of concentrated fear all over John's new power battery. Thematically, this is the culmination of John's journey to accept his own fear and see it as a strength rather than a weakness. Of course, in the comics, fear manifests as the power wielded by the Sinestro Corps. There is some speculation that the inclusion of fear in the power battery could lead John to become the DC Universe's version of a yellow lantern, just less evil (hopefully). The name Dark Lantern does suggest John is more willing to bend the rules, which he basically tells Guy Gardner. There is some speculation that John won't even call himself Green Lantern, and could use the power battery's name as his own hero moniker. We'll find out more when Man of Tomorrow is released on July 9, 2027. Will there be a Lanterns season 2? Photo: John Johnson/HBO Max There are no official plans for a second season of Lanterns at the moment. Despite that, series co-creator Damon Lindelof told Collider that some of the show's writers are actively working on ideas for season 2, should it ever be greenlit. A second season could focus on Sinestro, perhaps finally transforming him into a yellow lantern. The uncertain fate of Lanterns season 2 could also be related to the recent merger of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount. The merger is likely to come with a number of shake-ups, including changes to programming. DC has also canceled a number of previously announced television projects, so fans may need to be content with the story we got in season 1. Lanterns is now streaming on HBO Max, where it's currently the No. 1 streaming TV show on the service.