‘Lanterns’ Episode 4 Preview Pulls Hal and John Back to the Present Day

DC’s small-screen gamble has spent its opening weeks slowly earning fans over with a mystery that doesn’t rush to reveal its hand. Rather than leaning on cosmic spectacle right out of the gate, the series has invested heavily in the prickly dynamic between its two leads, betting that grounded character work would hook viewers before the bigger conspiracy fully kicks in.

That strategy has paid off through a season built on dual timelines, jumping between a 2016 training arc and a present-day investigation that ties back to events from earlier in the DC Universe. Episode 3 spent most of its runtime in the past, giving fans a deeper look at younger versions of several key characters before pulling focus away from the central mystery.

Now, a new look at episode 4, titled “Weenie,” suggests the series is heading back to more familiar ground. The episode drops this Sunday, pulling the story back into both the 2016 and 2026 timelines after last week’s detour, with the main cast expected to take center stage once again.

That main cast includes Kyle Chandler as veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as new recruit John Stewart, the two intergalactic cops whose investigation into a murder in the American heartland has pulled them into a much larger cosmic conspirac. Their case centers on the small town of Rushville, Nebraska, where nefarious ranchers, mysterious aliens, and murder have all become tangled together.

Episode 4 is expected to bring back a wide swath of the ensemble, including Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry Kane, Garret Dillahunt as William Macon, Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe Macon, and Jason Ritter as Billy Macon, alongside Laura Linney and Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner. Ulrich Thomsen’s Thaal Sinestro is also expected to factor into the episode, further expanding the show’s growing rogues gallery.

The series has drawn strong reviews for the chemistry between its two leads, with The Hollywood Reporter praising the “dysfunctional buddy space-cop banter” between Chandler and Pierre, calling Chandler’s performance a mixture of “angry and sad, heroic and cowardly.” That dynamic has become the show’s biggest selling point even as its larger mythology continues to unfold at a deliberate pace.

The Playlist offered similarly high marks for the central pairing, describing Chandler’s Hal as “genuinely an unapologetic jerk” whose recklessness contrasts sharply with Pierre’s more disciplined, by-the-book John. That friction, born from two wildly different approaches to heroism, has become the emotional engine driving the show’s slower mystery elements forward.

Created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and comics writer Tom King, ‘Lanterns’ has positioned itself as one of the more grounded entries in the new DC Universe, trading large-scale spectacle for a murder mystery that only gradually reveals its cosmic stakes. With eight episodes total, the season has now reached its midpoint, putting real pressure on episode 4 to start tying its scattered threads together.

Fans eager to see the mystery deepen will get their chance this weekend as the timelines converge once again, setting up what could be a pivotal turn heading into the back half of the season.

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