Lanterns returned to its main plot this week, diving straight back into the mystery and paranoia after a bit of a flashback detour. The Green Lantern show keeps leaning further into the True Detective comparisons, but Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy and Tom King haven’t shied away from grounding the series in James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe either.
If you are dialed in for the next chapter in the twisty comic book thriller, here is everything you need to know before Lanterns Episode 5 premieres:
When does Lanterns Episode 5 come out?
Season 1 Episode 5 will premiere on HBO at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 13. It will be available to stream on HBO Max at the same time. The episode, titled “Lights Out,” is expected to have a runtime around 55 minutes.
Like The Penguin, House of the Dragon and most other major HBO titles, Lanterns will release one episode a week – all on Sunday nights. There will be eight episodes in Season 1, as there were for both seasons of Peacemaker and The Penguin. As a result, the finale will air on Sunday, October 4.
(Warning: Spoilers for Lanterns Episode 4, Superman, Peacemaker and Supergirl ahead.)
Who will show up this episode?
For as much as Lanterns has been built around the idea of multiple points in the timeline, we have spent the bulk of the season in 2016. That seems to be the case for Episode 5, too, so don’t expect younger versions of our main characters to show up this week. Here is a look at who could appear in Episode 5:
- Aaron Pierre as John Stewart
- Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan
- Ulrich Thomsen as Thaal Sinestro
- Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry Kane
- Garret Dillahunt as William Macon
- Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe Macon
- Jason Ritter as Billy Macon
- Paul Ben-Victor as Antaan
- Laura Linney as Lianna
- Sherman Augustus as John Stewart Sr.
- Nicole Ari Parker as Bernadette Stewart
- Romeo Brown as Aaron Stewart
- Jade Ramirez as Jessica Jordan
- Henry Samiri as Adolescent Hal Jordan
- Shea Pritchard as Noah Macon
- Cary Christopher as Adolescent Noah Macon
- Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner
- Paula Patton as TBD
What to expect in Lanterns Episode 5?
John and Hal’s relationship is as tense as ever, with the Guardians in John’s ear and Sinestro in Hal’s. After they got caught breaking into the armory on Macon’s ranch, Sheriff Kane set them free. John kept up his affair with Zoe, who practically admitted to him that she is the shape-shifting Manhunter, but she faked her death and John didn’t fill Hal in on any of it. Once Hal put it together – following a wild goose chase for Hector Hammond – he left John in the passenger seat of his car to crash into a telephone pole, harkening back to the Season 1 premiere.
The Episode 5 preview shows Zoe alive, as well as the citizens of Rushville preparing for Antaan and his group of aliens to return and lay waste to the town. Since Zoe seemingly cured everyone in town of every disease, they are probably more loyal to her than they are to the Lanterns – even Sheriff Kane. John and Hal are at each other’s throats, too, so they probably won’t agree on how to move forward with the situation. Just one alien blew up the police station in Episode 1, and it looks like their impending attack in Episode 5 could be far more destructive.
There weren’t any flash forwards to the 2026 timeline in the Episode 5 teaser. As a result, we probably won’t get Nathan Fillion showing up as Guy Gardner just yet, either. The Green Lantern from Superman and Peacemaker Season 2 is confirmed to be part of the show, but he doesn’t seem to be present in the 2016 plot based on the trailers.
There is no official synopsis for this week’s episode, but there is the preview for Lanterns Episode 5:
Lanterns FAQs
When does Lanterns come out?
Lanterns Episode 5 will premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 13. The next three episodes will drop once a week at the same time.
Where can I watch Lanterns?
Lanterns is available to stream on HBO Max. All other shows and movies in the newly-rebooted DC Universe are also available on the streaming service if you are looking to catch up, from Creature Commandos and Peacemaker to Superman. Supergirl, meanwhile, is only available for video on-demand and isn’t hitting HBO Max until Thursday, September 10.
Will there be another season of Lanterns?
HBO has not publicly renewed Lanterns for a second season. However, according to a report from Jeff Sneider, the network has hired Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell to produce and write a potential Season 2.
When does the next DC project come out?
Following Lanterns‘ eight-week run on HBO, the next DC film or TV show will be Clayface. The horror-adjacent movie about the titular shape-shifting Batman villain will hit theaters on October 23, 2026.
