HBOWhen Lanterns kicked off its promo by claiming that “only one” can wear the Green Lantern ring on Earth, most hoped it was just a bit of hyperbole on HBO’s part. Unfortunately, it’s a premise that the very series is based around. There might be multiple GLs protecting the planet in the comics, but in the new DC Universe, Earth really only has one interstellar guardian at a time. That stokes some tense competition between Earth’s first Lantern, Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), the ex-Marine poised to replace him. There’s also the matter of Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), who emerged as the sole Lantern in the present day in Superman.Gardner’s role in Superman was confusing when the film hit theaters in 2025, but it’s even more so now that the “one ring” rule is actually canon in the DCU. As fans tuning in to Lanterns already know, the series is set partially in the past, following Hal as he reluctantly trains John to take over his duties. The series establishes a clear timeline for Hal’s tenure as the Lantern: he served from the early ’90s through the 2010s. So how (and when) does Guy come to inherit the ring — and why isn’t John next in line? Thanks to Pierre’s casting in Man of Tomorrow, James Gunn’s upcoming sequel to Superman, we do know that John will take on the duties of Green Lantern very soon. Lanterns will have to bridge the gap between Hal’s time as the Lantern, Guy’s, and John’s: it’s a complicated task, but its first episode just gave us a big piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, it’s also exactly what fans feared when Chandler was first cast as Hal Jordan.Spoilers ahead for Lanterns Episode 1.Lanterns Episode 1 ending, explainedLanterns Episode 1 ends with a shocking flash forward. | HBOThe bulk of Lanterns’ first episode is set in 2016, with Hal and John addressing a potential alien invasion in Rushville, Nebraska. The mystery here forms the crux of the conflict for the season — but just after Hal gets his first true lead in an explosive (literally) interrogation scene, Lanterns jumps forward a decade. In 2026, John finds himself back in Rushville. He’s still just a civilian — there’s no Green Lantern ring on his finger — but it seems like he has unfinished business in town. On a snowy, quiet night, he reunites with Rushville’s sheriff Kerry (Kelly Macdonald), whom he met back in 2016. She leads him to the local high school’s football field, the site of John’s first mission with Hal. The bleachers they once sat on are empty... except for one seat. Kerry and John find Hal, half-covered in snow, a bullet in the head, and no ring on his finger, either.Did Lanterns really just off Hal Jordan?Hal will still play a role in Lanterns, but we already know how his story ends. | HBOWhen Chandler was cast as a much older Hal in Lanterns, most assumed that he would be biting the dust for John to take center stage as the DCU’s main Green Lantern. Even with that expectation, though, no one could have predicted that he’d be murdered in Lanterns’ very first episode. His demise is shocking, but it might not be what it seems. After all, despite its grounded western aesthetic, Lanterns is still a sci-fi show. There’s still plenty of room to get weird in the episodes to come, so maybe this gruesome scene can be explained away down the line.Even if this is the end of Hal Jordan, though, we know it’s not the end of the world. There’s still plenty of Hal to see in Lanterns — at least, according to the scenes we’ve seen in trailers thus far. The series will be skipping back and forth across its timeline to paint a fractured picture of the Lantern Corps, eventually explaining how Hal dies and why Guy is the one who takes over as the Green Lantern.That’s the hope, anyway. The fact that John is still just a civilian in the present day is another frustrating mystery that Lanterns will have to solve. The DCU has really only just begun, but its timeline already feels incredibly chaotic. Lanterns has to answer for the status quo established in Superman rather than tell a straightforward tale about the Green Lantern Corps, and that sets up a convoluted origin story for both John and Hal. The series may be on its way to explaining why Gardner is the only Lantern in this universe, but it’s not gonna give fans the answers they might have wanted.Lanterns streams Sundays on HBO Max.