Spoilers ahead for Lanterns. DC's co-CEO James Gunn has been making bold swings with the first slate of DCU projects, titled Gods and Monsters. Each title so far has had a unique tone, and Lanterns was a grounded crime drama that happened to have a few superheroes in it. The season premiere shocked fans by revealing Hal Jordan was dead, with his killer being a mystery that loomed over the season until the finale confirmed who shot him. I've been wondering if they might bring back the beloved Green Lantern if a second season arrives on HBO (and streaming with a HBO Max subscription). Luckily someone asked co-creator/EP Damon Lindelof that very question.Lindelof created shows like Lost and The Leftovers, so he's used to bringing ambitious and narratively complicated projects to life. Lanterns is no exception, with the show getting backlash as soon as the trailer arrived online. During a recent interview with Collider, he was asked if John Stewart might be able to bring Hal Jordan back, either IRL or through his Hologram. The TV icon responded by saying: 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 ideating 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.Honestly, I like this perspective. As much as I'd love to see more of Chandler's Hal Jordan in upcoming DC movies and TV shows, I don't want the emotional punch of Lanterns to be cheapened by miraculously reviving the DC hero. Although I can't blame folks for wondering; the hologram version of Hal was present after the actual character perished. There are definitely narrative threads to pull from if Lanterns gets green lit for Season 2, including the ramifications of Hal's death. We know Kerry shot him to protect her Manhunter son, and I'd love to see how she's grappling with that guilt. Lindelof spoke more about the show's potential future by saying: 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.At the time of writing this story, Lanterns has not been renewed for a second season on HBO. Still, the discourse surrounding the series might indicate that there is more story to tell. Although if another season ends up happening, we shouldn't expect Hal Jordan to miraculously rise from the dead. As the TV icon went on to say: 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.Points were made. As much as DC fans love Hal Jordan, it just wouldn't make sense for Kyle Chandler's character to be brought back to life... even if that's happened a number of times in the comics. Instead, Lanterns is going to stick to its guns if/when a second season gets ordered by HBO. Lanterns is streaming in its entirety on HBO Max as part of the 2026 TV schedule. Fingers crossed that we'll get Season 2. Either way, Aaron Pierre's John Stewart is set to reprise his role in Man of Tomorrow next year.