Lanterns wasted very little time dropping a bomb on Green Lantern fans. The new DC TV series ended its first episode with the bombshell that present-day Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan is apparently dead. It then jumped back to let us spend more than half the season watching Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart train under his tutelage. It is a pretty cruel storytelling trick when you already know where one character’s road seemingly ends. Not everyone is thrilled, and some fans are making their opinions known, but James Gunn is defending the decision. One fan recently confronted DC Studios co-head James Gunn directly on Threads, arguing that killing Hal after fans waited 15 years to see the character properly return to live-action showed a lack of respect for the hero. Gunn responded personally, and he very much disagrees with the idea that Lanterns has treated the beloved character as disposable. The fan wrote that killing Hal “right away” was the worst choice the show could have made after such a long absence from live-action. Gunn pushed back:Hal's the star of TV series & he's in all the episodes so far. It's more live action screen time than all the live action screen time he's had combined throughout history. Kyle is amazing in the role. We more than respect him. We love him, despite his imperfections. Us knowing the time of his death, if that's exactly what that is, is absolutely not the same thing as killing him off right away. Hal is a big reason why the show is so popular with fans & non fans alike; sorry if you don't like it.There is one phrase doing a lot of work there: “if that’s exactly what that is.” Because yes, the premiere shows John and Sheriff Kerry Kane finding what appears to be present day Hal’s body. But most of the series takes place a decade earlier, with Hal very much alive and begrudgingly mentoring John while the pair investigate a murder in Nebraska tied to a bigger alien mystery.So Gunn has a point about the “right away” part. The audience learns Hal’s apparent fate right away. Hal himself has hardly vanished from the show. In the most recent episode we were treated to tons of Chandler’s take on the character, including the 2026 era as a body in a casket. The tease for next week’s seventh episode let us know we are going to get the uploaded hologram Hal from 2006, attempting to help John solve his own murder. Based on these story choices alone Lanterns is peak 2026 TV schedule programing in my opinion. (Image credit: HBO, DC Studios)I also understand the fans’ frustration. Hal Jordan’s last major live-action outing was Ryan Reynolds’ much-maligned Green Lantern in 2011. Fans waited 15 years for another substantial version of the character, only for Lanterns to introduce Chandler’s take alongside a giant countdown clock hanging over his head. That is rough.Hal also has decades of comic history, including Sinestro, Parallax, Carol Ferris and some enormous Green Lantern Corps. stories. If Chandler’s version is permanently dead by the end of the season, fans may never see this incarnation explore this rich material spanning decades of comic book publication.At the same time, the death mystery is clearly baked into Lanterns' structure. The premiere uses Hal’s apparent fate to frame John’s story, while subsequent episodes have continued filling in their relationship and the events that eventually lead to that future. The show’s creators have also been pretty explicit that John Stewart is ultimately the character audiences will leave the season following.But I have to say, Gunn’s wording gives me pause. “If that’s exactly what that is” does not sound accidental coming from the guy running DC Studios. Maybe Hal is dead. Maybe Lanterns has another trick waiting. That would fit with some internet chatter and theories I've seen. From dead Hal being a clone to a Manhunter, there are no shortages of possibilities in a world based on comic books. Either way, Kyle Chandler still has plenty of screen time as we head into the final two episodes of the season.Lanterns airs Sunday nights at 9:00 PM ET/ 6:00 PM PT on HBO and streams with an HBO Max subscription.