When HBO released the first trailer for “Lanterns,” it seemed like a show embarrassed by its own source material. Where was the green? Where were the costumes? With its Green Lanterns spending the vast majority of their time in plain clothes instead of their iconic suits, the show harked back to an era when Hollywood was afraid to embrace the aesthetics of superheroes. 

In the early 2000s, “Smallville” instituted a “no tights, no flights” mandate that kept Clark Kent out of the suit. In a cinematic landscape where Superman can wear his bright red trunks again, the decision to completely ground the superheroes in “Lanterns” felt regressive, risk-averse, and unsuited for an adaptation of super-powered space cops.   

Nevertheless, I stayed optimistic. The franchise’s last live-action attempt was the 2011 film, a financial flop that has been the punchline of Ryan Reynolds jokes for years. After 15 years of that reputation, switching up the traditional formula made sense. Instead of one Green Lantern, there are two. And instead of a CGI-heavy spectacle, a subdued, character-driven drama. 

“Lanterns” is billed as a grounded, Earth-based mystery in the vein of “True Detective,” promising a gritty, mature take on the character befitting the HBO label. The result is a gripping drama about two men and one ring, and a Green Lantern adaptation that leaves much to the imagination. 

This new installment in DC’s fledgling cinematic universe comes from showrunners Chris Mundy (“Ozark”) and Damon Lindelof (“Watchmen”) and Eisner Award-winning comic book writer Tom King. “Lanterns” centers on veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and his trainee, John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), as they investigate an anomaly in rural Nebraska. Hal belongs to the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar peacekeeping force whose members wear power rings, alien devices that turn willpower into hard-light constructs of anything their user can imagine. 

The central investigation serves as a powder keg for their complicated partnership: Hal is reluctant to give up the ring, while John believes he could do the job better than Hal ever could. The show switches between two timelines, 2016 and 2026, in a structure that echoes “True Detective,” building up the season’s overarching mystery while probing the psychology of both men. 

Where “Lanterns” succeeds is in its character work. Entire episodes are devoted to fleshing out John and Hal’s upbringings, making them more flawed than their comic book counterparts, and more human in turn. Here, the show diverges heavily from their established backstories by adding tragedy to their origins, which gives each of them a motivation to pursue the ring. This tension between the two leads breeds endless fuel for character drama and a story that explores intergenerational trauma. 

Kyle Chandler is the show’s standout, delivering a definitive live-action take on Hal Jordan. As an older iteration of the character, he portrays Hal as a lovable asshole, with a bravado and charisma that rival, and even eclipse, the source material. Chandler’s Hal is effortlessly cool, whether he stops an orbital strike with his ring or takes a beating in a dive bar. If “Lanterns” wins new Green Lantern fans, it will be because of Chandler. 

The show’s commitment to limit its depiction of spectacle sometimes becomes its detriment. We are reverently told throughout how powerful the Green Lantern power ring is, yet we only see it used sparingly and never fully unleashed. The main attraction of the premise, getting to witness the true extent of the ring’s power, is thus perpetually deferred. Worse, the writers lean on the same narrative contrivance to keep the action small: the ring is constantly low on battery, a convenience that undercuts its gravitas. 

This points to a larger problem within the series. Even when the plot necessitates escalation, “Lanterns” holds back. For a show that keeps gesturing toward the extraterrestrial and the deeper lore of the Green Lantern Corps, the near absence of sci-fi spectacle reneges on this promise. Too often, key moments are resolved through expository dialogue referencing off-screen events instead of presenting them as they occur. We hear about Hal’s adventures as a space-faring hero, but we don’t see them. This tell-don’t-show approach leaves the viewer with hollow stakes, waiting for payoffs that don’t arrive. The result is a universe that feels smaller and more constrained than it should, as if an entire galaxy exists where the camera doesn’t.

In the end, “Lanterns” eschews superhero conventions. The full suit appears once. We seldom leave Earth. A larger universe is alluded to but never shown. It feels as if the fantastical elements were siphoned off for other projects, and with Pierre reportedly returning as Green Lantern in next year’s “Man of Tomorrow,” the hope is that the soaring will happen entirely there. Unfortunately, that project is not this one. 

Still, “Lanterns” is a compelling show, though not the one fans of the Green Lantern mythos might be hoping for. As a character study that happens to feature a power ring, it works, anchored by Chandler’s charming performance as Hal and a love-hate dynamic that commands real emotional stakes. By staying close to the ground, “Lanterns” finds its strongest material in character drama, but its stubbornness in this approach prevents the show from truly taking flight.