LANTERNS Writer Explains Why Hal Jordan’s Killer Was Allowed to Walk Free
Hal Jordan’s murder was already a massive swing for Lanterns, but the finale went one step further by letting his killer walk away without any legal consequences. Unsurprisingly, that choice left plenty of viewers wondering what the hell was going on.
Now, Tom King, one of the writers and co-creators of the HBO series, has explained why Sheriff Kerry Kane wasn’t sent to prison after killing Hal, and it turns out the decision sparked plenty of debate in the writers’ room.
During an appearance on The Ringer-Verse podcast, King confirmed the creative team spent a lot of time discussing what should happen to Kerry, saying: “We had a big debate about this.”
King ultimately felt that putting Kerry behind bars wouldn’t add much to her punishment because she was already going to spend the rest of her life carrying what she had done.
“Nothing could punish her more than the fact that she did what she did and has to live with it,” King stated. He added that “prison isn’t worse than the feeling of guilt.”
That thinking also connects to what Lanterns was trying to explore with Kerry as a character. Her behavior following Hal’s murder isn’t clean or particularly logical, and King says that was intentional.
People under extreme pressure don’t always make rational decisions, and the writers wanted Kerry’s actions to reflect that messy human reality.
Kerry didn’t kill Hal as part of some carefully constructed plan Her decision came from panic. She had established a life for herself in Rushville, and Hal threatened to tear that apart. Faced with losing everything, she made a terrible choice.
The writers were also interested in taking apart the familiar small-town sheriff character often seen in crime stories. King pointed to the sheriff in Fargo as the “platonic ideal” of that archetype, which Lanterns wanted to challenge through Kerry.
There was another major factor in keeping Kerry out of prison… Noah. From John Stewart’s perspective, locking Kerry away could have pushed her Manhunter son further toward his destructive nature.
Rather than potentially helping create an even bigger problem, John chose to leave Kerry in Noah’s life and give the kid a chance to become something better.
Whether viewers agree with that decision is another question entirely. Letting the person who murdered Hal Jordan escape prison was always going to be controversial. King’s explanation makes the reasoning behind the finale clearer, but it probably won’t settle the argument among fans.
I mean, I loved her character, and loved her dynamic with Hal Jordan, but she did straight up murder him.