Grant Morrison Rips into LANTERNS Finale for Betraying the Green Lantern Franchise
Lanterns may have pulled in strong numbers for HBO, but the DC Studios series has also become one of the most argued-about comic book shows of the year.
The biggest firestarter has been the Season 1 finale, “Dirt and Stars,” which revealed that Sheriff Kerry Kane killed Hal Jordan and then somehow walked away from it.
For a series sold as the DCU’s grounded, cosmic-cop mystery with a True Detective flavor, that ending has been a tough one for a lot of fans to swallow. The issue isn’t just that Hal Jordan died.
It’s that John Stewart let Kerry go free because, apparently, that’s what Hal would have wanted. He also let Noah, a Manhunter with a very real desire to conquer Earth, head back into the world so he could go to college and play football.
That’s an interesting call for a show built around Green Lanterns being part of an intergalactic law enforcement agency.
Comic book legend Grant Morrison, who has already had some public friction with Lanterns executive producer Damon Lindelof, had actually warmed up to the show after first taking issue with the premiere.
But after watching the finale, Morrison made it clear on Substack that the ending didn’t work for him.
Morrison praised the cast and the central pairing before tearing into the story choices that wrapped up the season:
“Lanterns worked as a show and it’s mostly down to the two leads, particularly Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan.
“They have a great supporting cast which helps, but it’s the two principals and their chemistry and charisma that sells the whole thing – so maybe those True Detective comparisons had some basis after all!
“Having said that, I didn’t really like the ending, although it was all neatly put together. I found it hard to accept that the Kerry Kane character played by Kelly McDonald shot Hal Jordan in the head, and everyone seemed fine with that psychotic break.
“There should probably have been some response to that, because otherwise it makes it really hard for the audience to work out what makes the Green Lantern Corps an intergalactic law enforcement agency at all.
“The Guardians are now fine with their operatives being murdered while other officers simply ignore the fact and let the perps walk free?
“I read writer Tom King’s explanation for why this choice was made – she killed the man she loved and was suffering enough – and wondered how that defence would fly in a court of law after some ghastly crime of passion.
“‘The horror of murdering his wife in cold blood is punishment enough for this man, your honour. Let him walk free with a gun in his hand, and we’ll just hope it never happens again, okay?’
“I watched the show; Kerry lost her shit in a way that made her seem unhinged and she shot a superhero in the head out of pique. John Stewart also let the Manhunter go free, knowing that he could one day destroy the world.
“For a show that’s not about masked vigilantes with their own personal code but deals with weird space policemen working for an interplanetary judiciary, it was a morally and legally incoherent conclusion that backed out of its own implications and the basic premise of the franchise.
“There are rumours of a potential second season but even with the compelling Aaron Pierre, it’s hard to imagine the formula working as well without Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, and they’d have to find a way to recreate the partnership (Sinestro did say he could bring Hal back to life, so maybe Hal as Parallax would be good, with John having to save him). We’ll see.”
It’s hard to get around Morrison’s point here. Lanterns isn’t supposed to be a story about lone vigilantes making up justice as they go. This is Green Lantern.
These characters are space cops working under the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps. When a Lantern gets shot in the head and the killer is simply allowed to walk, it undercuts the whole idea of what the Corps is supposed to represent.
The Noah choice is just as strange. Letting a Manhunter with planet-conquering ambitions wander off into normal life is the kind of decision that feels less like compassion and more like the writers trying to close the season without dealing with the mess they created.
The show definitely had its supporters, and the ratings gave HBO plenty to be happy about. But strong viewership doesn’t erase story problems, especially when the finale is the thing everyone is left sitting with after the credits roll.
Critics also only received seven of the eight episodes ahead of time, so the response to the ending has become its own conversation.
Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart and legendary Green Lantern Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops pulled into a dark Earth-based mystery while investigating a murder in the American heartland.
The series stars Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, with Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Nicole Ari Parker, Jason Ritter, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones rounding out the cast.
There are rumors of a possible Season 2, and Morrison even floated the idea of Sinestro bringing Hal back, possibly with a Parallax angle that forces John to save him. Honestly, that sounds a lot more interesting than leaving Hal dead after a finale that many fans feel missed the core of Green Lantern.
For now, Lanterns is streaming in full on HBO Max, and whether you loved it or hated it, the finale clearly gave DC fans plenty to argue about.
Source: Substack