4 episodes in, Lanterns has largely performed like a dusty Midwestern homicide thriller that occurs to have two energy ring bearers in it. Then Episode 4, titled “The Weenie,” aired Sunday, September 6 on HBO, and the theorizing began earlier than the credit completed. The studying choosing up velocity throughout DC fan areas is that the present has spent 4 hours quietly laying groundwork for a faction it has not named but. Constructed round a jail dialog, a betrayal, and a coloration the present retains returning to with out explaining why, DC followers imagine Hal Jordan is being walked towards it one unhealthy resolution at a time
The faction followers take note of is the Sinestro Corps, also referred to as the Yellow Lantern Corps, the fear-powered counterpart to the Inexperienced Lantern Corps. Within the r/DC_Cinematic spoiler megathread for the episode, a remark from person jpfitz630 carrying greater than 40 upvotes asks whether or not Sinestro has already begun assembling it from inside his cell, and whether or not he walks out of that jail earlier than the season ends. The commenter factors to an inside man who tipped Sinestro off about John Stewart, together with what they name “a number of yellow teases.”
The Sinestro Corps Principle, Defined
The case begins within the chilly open, on a frozen jail planet the place Hal Jordan, performed by Kyle Chandler, stands throughout from his imprisoned former mentor Sinestro, performed by Ulrich Thomsen. Sinestro tells him the Manhunter is just the second biggest risk he faces, and that the primary is John Stewart, Aaron Pierre’s character and the person the Guardians have lined as much as change him. From there, he tells Hal to both kill John or shame him to remain within the Guardians’ good graces whereas there may be nonetheless time.
The remainder of the hour behaves like a procedural. Hal and John drill into William Macon’s compound, discover a cache of superior alien darkness weapons able to nullifying a hoop, and unmask an impostor working below the identify Hector Hammond. The actual reveal lands on Zoe Macon, performed by Poorna Jagannathan, who seems to be the Manhunter, having cured William’s most cancers and quietly protected the city for years. An orbital strike seems to kill her, although the episode crops sufficient doubt that almost all viewers got here away assuming she walked.
The closing beat is the one which acquired individuals speaking. Hal works out that John hid Zoe’s id from him, and fairly than argue about it, he wraps their rental automobile round a phone pole, climbs out, and flies off alone, leaving his associate buckled into the passenger seat. By itself, that might be an unpleasant evening between two colleagues, however set towards the jail scene, it appears loads just like the second Hal begins doing what Sinestro instructed him to do.
There’s partial corroboration from contained in the present, and it lands on the precise half followers had been guessing at. Talking on Lanterns: The Official Podcast, sequence author and producer Breannah Gibson confirmed that Sinestro is manipulating Hal and described the villain as “organising the dominoes,” framing his actual motive as understanding who’s finally going to interrupt him out of that cell. That’s the similar jailbreak the megathread had already arrived at, in a reply with greater than 30 upvotes arguing that Sinestro appears far too comfy for a person staring down a life sentence.
Why the Yellow Lanterns and Not Someone Else
The explanation followers land on the Sinestro Corps fairly than any of the opposite factions floating across the DCU comes right down to a stack of small issues. The episode retains returning to yellow-tinted title playing cards, and yellow is the colour of worry and the signature of the Yellow Lanterns. The comics precedent does the remainder of the work, since in print Sinestro is a disgraced Inexperienced Lantern who builds a military of yellow ring wielders on Qward and aligns with Parallax, the dwelling embodiment of worry, whereas the Emerald Twilight arc has Hal corrupted and turning on the Corps he helped construct. Put that beside advertising that leaned laborious on the phrase worry and the truth that Hal turns up useless within the 2026 timeline, and it turns into clear why persons are drawing the road the place they’re.
Competing readings are circulating too, and inside that megathread they’re louder than the Corps principle. Probably the most developed one argues that Guardian Lianna, performed by Laura Linney, will not be what she claims to be. Commenters level out that she isn’t seen alongside different Guardians but speaks for all of them, that her true kind doesn’t match the basic Guardian design, and that the black gap expertise the Manhunter makes use of on the plant is similar tech that acquired John to his interview.
One other well-liked thread holds that the corpse John discovered within the 2026 timeline was by no means Hal in any respect however Zoe, with the tear he sheds because the inform. Elsewhere, followers learn Antaan, performed by Paul Ben-Victor, as an echo of the Pink Lantern Atrocitus, and the Episode 5 promo reportedly features a drop of pink getting into an eye fixed. The darkness weapons have their very own Black Hand and Blackest Evening camp.
None of it’s settled. DC Studios has introduced nothing resembling a Sinestro Corps or Yellow Lantern undertaking, and nobody concerned has confirmed a Hal as Parallax arc. James Gunn has stated solely that the sequence “is absolutely vital in organising issues” within the DCU, with out saying how. Aaron Pierre has reportedly joined the forged of Superman: Man of Tomorrow, which most followers take as affirmation that John, fairly than Hal, is the Lantern being positioned for the eventual Justice League.
This Would possibly All Be Setup for Lanterns Season 2
My learn is that the speculation is pointed in the appropriate course and off on the timing. Season 1 will not be constructing the Sinestro Corps. Season 1 is constructing Sinestro’s escape, and the Corps is what occurs after. Gibson stated the quiet half out loud when she framed his motive as determining who breaks him out, and that may be a a lot smaller and extra achievable objective than assembling a military from solitary confinement. Eight episodes will not be sufficient room to do each, and the present has spent 4 of them on a homicide investigation in Nebraska.
The element I hold coming again to is the within man. Sinestro knew John Stewart’s identify earlier than anybody instructed him; he’s in solitary confinement, and he appears solely too relaxed about it. Someone is feeding him data, and the present has not defined who. That’s the place the Lianna principle turns into attention-grabbing fairly than simply enjoyable, as a result of it solutions a query the sequence has truly raised as an alternative of 1 the comics raised for it. If the Guardians by no means contacted the Stewarts, and if Lianna has been steering John this complete time, then the worry angle and the Manhunter angle are the identical story fairly than two competing ones.
I additionally suppose Hal as Parallax will get tougher to imagine each week that John’s DCU future will get extra concrete. Pierre in Man of Tomorrow means John is the Lantern this universe is constructing round, and essentially the most helpful factor a corrupted Hal can do for that story is give John one thing to outlive. That isn’t the identical as launching a Yellow Corps. It’s an origin for John, instructed by means of Hal’s collapse, and it will clarify why a present about house cops has spent a lot of its runtime on grief and worry fairly than ring constructs.
So watch the final 4 episodes for who visits that cell. An on-screen yellow ring or a Season 2 announcement would settle this quick, however the inform I might guess on is smaller. If somebody with entry to the Guardians seems to be Sinestro’s supply, the Corps is actual, and it’s coming. If no person does, this was all the time a narrative about two males and one ring.