LANTERNS Finale Included a Curious Hal Jordan Detail That Could Mean Something More

The season finale of Lanterns gave John Stewart and Hal Jordan one final goodbye, but there’s a small detail buried in that emotional scene that could change how we look at Hal’s fate.

“Dirt and Stars” packed plenty into its closing moments, including the truth about Hal’s death. John (Aaron Pierre) discovers that Sheriff Kerry was actually responsible for killing Hal (Kyle Chandler) after she panicked when he revealed that he knew her son Noah was a Manhunter.

Armed with that knowledge, John decides to recharge Jordan’s decommissioned ring using the lantern power source created by Sinestro. Before he takes off, though, Halogram appears one more time.

The sentient construct represents a younger, less cynical version of Hal Jordan, and he tells John that he didn’t hear Kerry pass along Hal’s final words. John repeats them for him, prompting Halogram to respond:

"I love you too, junior.”

He then disappears with a wink, possibly marking the final time we’ll see this version of Hal. It’s a nice farewell on its own, but the use of the word “Junior” is what makes the moment so interesting.

The real Hal only started calling John “Junior” after meeting his parents, Bernadette and John Sr. He knew the nickname would annoy the man the Guardians had selected to replace him, so naturally, Hal kept using it.

Halogram shouldn’t know any of that. Up until this conversation, the construct had called Stewart either John or “trainee.” He represents an earlier version of Hal and wasn’t supposed to possess the memories that led to the “Junior” nickname. Yet somehow, during their final exchange, he knows exactly what to call him.

Maybe it’s simply an emotional flourish for the scene. Maybe it means Halogram somehow gained access to the real Jordan’s later memories or consciousness.

There’s also the possibility that it connects to a future resurrection. Sinestro has already suggested such a thing could be possible, although trusting Sinestro’s word isn’t exactly the safest bet.

Lanterns co-creator Damon Lindelof isn’t interested in providing an answer just yet. Asked by Collider whether Jordan could return, Lindelof said:

"I definitely don't want to speculate about the answer to that question. I can only tell you that everybody in the Season 1 room, inclusive of the writers who are working on Season 2, felt like, even though we knew that it was going to be emotionally devastating and/or disappointing and maybe even frustrating, that the worst possible schmuck-baity thing that we could do is show you a pilot where Hal Jordan was definitively dead, and then try to walk it back and say, 'Oh, he was a clone,' or 'He's only mostly dead' in the Princess Bride vernacular.

In terms of moving forward into subsequent seasons of the show, I swear to you, as I look at you in the eye on Wednesday this 30th of September, I do not know anything about the creative, and I wouldn't want to hamstring those writers in any way for what future storytelling mechanisms they could indulge in.

“Knowing what the comics have done with Parallax and Hal, I think, has died at least 3 or 4 times over the course of the canon, and celebrating everything that Kyle did in his performance to get the audience to fall in love with Hal. So I think that honoring the emotional impact and making Season 1 feel felt.

“The question that you're asking would be the equivalent of, 'Would I want to see a movie called Ghost 2 where Patrick Swayze was alive again?' And the answer is, I would not, because it would degrade the emotional impact of Ghost. But where there's a will, there's a way. Where there's will, there's a way."

Hal Jordan dying and eventually finding his way back wouldn’t exactly be foreign territory for Green Lantern fans. The comics have taken the character through death, resurrection and the whole Parallax saga, giving future seasons plenty of source material to draw from if the writers ever decide to revisit him.

It also helps that Chandler won over plenty of viewers. Some fans weren’t sold on his casting when it was first announced, but the Chandler proved to be a great fit for this older, worn-down version of Jordan. His performance made Hal’s death at the end of the premiere hit hard, and the decision sparked plenty of backlash from fans who wanted Chandler to stick around.

Still, Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy sounds less inclined to reopen that door. Speaking with Brandon Davis about Hal and John’s relationship, he explained:

“It’s absolutely the end of the season and the end of [John and Hal’s] relationship. I think our intent was always just that, to close that off emotionally. That’s the best way to say it. I know there are people that love the idea of Hal going forward but… I would never say never to anything, but it’s also like that closed the book on our story for this season.”

That sounds like the writers wanted John and Hal’s story to have a proper ending rather than immediately finding a loophole around Jordan’s death. The curious part is that Halogram’s use of “Junior” still doesn’t have an obvious explanation.

If Halogram was simply a construct based on a younger Hal, where did that memory come from? Did he somehow absorb part of Jordan’s later consciousness? Is there more of Hal left inside the construct than John realizes?

It could ultimately amount to nothing more than a touching callback. In a show filled with Green Lantern mythology, Manhunters, Sinestro and technology capable of creating a sentient version of a dead man, though, it’s hard not to wonder why Halogram suddenly knew a nickname he shouldn’t have known.

Whatever the answer, it gives Hal and John’s Lanterns finale farewell an extra little mystery to carry into Season 2.