‘Lanterns’ Director Breaks Down John Stewart’s Shocking Episode 5 Decision
‘Lanterns‘ spent its opening stretch letting tension simmer between Hal Jordan and John Stewart, the two Green Lanterns whose rivalry has anchored the HBO series since its premiere. Neither man fully trusted the other’s fitness for the ring, and that friction had been building quietly under the surface of the show’s murder-mystery plot in Rushville, Nebraska.
Episode 5, titled “Lights Out,” is where all of that tension finally erupted. Directed by Geeta Vasant Patel, the installment functions as a kind of semi-finale for the season’s long-running 2016 storyline, closing out several threads while blowing the town of Rushville apart in the process.
Patel spoke with TheWrap about what it actually took to stage the episode’s biggest set pieces while still keeping the story grounded in character. She explained that her marching orders were to make sure meaningful emotional arcs were happening even in the middle of chaos, since action that doesn’t serve character risks becoming indistinguishable from noise.
That balance mattered most in the episode’s climactic fight between Hal and John, which strips away the usual ring-powered spectacle in favor of a brutal, powers-free brawl. Patel called it her favorite scene in the entire episode, explaining that it cuts straight to the core of both characters and the larger story the show has been building toward all season.
To find the emotional throughline of that fight, Patel said she and star Kyle Chandler looked to an unexpected reference point. “I looked at it with Kyle, and we started thinking, wait a minute, let’s think about ‘Cool Hand Luke,'” Patel said, describing how the film’s stubborn refusal to stay down informed Hal’s mindset as the beating wears on.
According to Patel, Hal’s defining trait, refusing to give up no matter the cost, becomes both his blessing and his undoing in that moment. He goads John throughout the fight, getting back up again and again rather than yielding, until John finally overpowers him and takes the ring and lantern for himself.
What follows the fight is where the episode’s real gut punch lands. Rather than celebrating his hard-won victory, John embarks on a long, silent walk through the wreckage of Rushville to deliver his report to Lianna, one of the Guardians played by Laura Linney, with Hal’s parting words, “Was it worth it?”, echoing in his head the entire way.
Patel described that image with striking clarity. “I think that rings in John’s ears the entire way, and that’s why we wanted to have that long walk,” she said, explaining that the destruction itself became a kind of visual metaphor for everything John was quietly taking stock of. “We decided that the long walk was going to be through the rubble through the wreckage as a metaphor for John taking survey of everything in his life.”
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That survey culminates in a single, devastating image: John turning to look back at the ruined town, half his face lit and half in shadow. Patel framed the moment as the instant John recognizes who he’s become and rejects it outright, ultimately choosing to hand back the ring and lantern rather than accept the legacy Hal fought so hard to protect.
It’s a striking inversion of the usual superhero coronation moment, and Patel’s approach makes clear the choice was deliberate rather than incidental. For a season that has spent five episodes complicating what it actually means to earn the ring, John walking away lands as the show’s most pointed statement yet.
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