5 Must-Watch Shows Like Lanterns for DC Crime and Sci-Fi Mystery Fans

With James Gunn helping steer the ship after years of strong comic book storytelling, DC’s television universe is beginning to find real momentum — and HBO has played a major role in that turnaround. One of its breakout DCU series helped set the tone, and in 2026 it was joined by “Lanterns,” a fresh spin on the Green Lantern saga led by Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, with Chris Mundy serving as showrunner.

Mundy, who developed “Lanterns” with Damon Lindelof — a name that comes up again later — and acclaimed comics writer-artist Tom King, delivers a series that is tense, entertaining, and darker than some viewers might expect. The story follows Hal Jordan (Chandler), a seasoned Green Lantern Corps member and intergalactic peacekeeper who is ready to step away from duty. Before he can retire his power ring, however, Hal must locate and train his successor. That successor is John Stewart (Pierre), whose path into the Corps is unusual: he is selected directly by the Guardians of the Universe rather than chosen by a ring, as tradition usually dictates.

“Lanterns” has often been summed up as “‘True Detective’ with aliens,” but its DNA reaches beyond that easy comparison. In fact, the series calls to mind several other standout shows, most of them also from HBO, that blend genre storytelling with character-driven drama. From inventive comic book adaptations to gripping buddy narratives and one of Chandler’s most memorable television roles, these are five shows worth watching if “Lanterns” left you wanting more — a series that also earned a strong review here at Looper.

Damon Lindelof’s name should still be fresh in your mind. After his work on “Lost” and the critical success of HBO’s “The Leftovers,” Lindelof returned to the network in 2019 with “Watchmen,” a bold miniseries based on the landmark DC comic by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Rather than recreate the source material beat for beat, as Zack Snyder attempted with his divisive 2009 film, Lindelof smartly crafted a continuation of the original comic’s world. At the center is Regina King’s Angela Abar, a Tulsa police officer who patrols the city by night under the masked identity Sister Night.

Tulsa is not just a backdrop in “Watchmen” — it is essential to the story. Lindelof grounds the superhero narrative in real American history by depicting the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, a horrific event whose legacy shapes Angela’s family and the series as a whole. The show also brings back key figures from the “Watchmen” universe, including Adrian Veidt, a.k.a. Ozymandias (Jeremy Irons), and Laurie Blake (Jean Smart), formerly known as Silk Spectre. Doctor Manhattan factors in as well, though with a major twist: he is revealed to be Angela’s husband, Cal Abar, with both identities portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

“Watchmen” is a phenomenal miniseries with something for everyone, and if you like “Lanterns,” you can’t miss this one. Plus, with Lindelof involved in both, there’s some creative connective tissue to boot.

It’s easy to assume that, after “Game of Thrones” — the once massively successful adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels — came to a pretty rough end on HBO in May of 2019, people largely lost interest in the fictional world of Westeros and all of its political intrigue, bloody battles, and dragons. Still, HBO kept trucking along. The first prequel and spin-off, “House of the Dragon,” which concerns itself with the Targaryen civil war known as the “Dance of the Dragons” that ends in tragedy, tears, and bloodshed (and both directly and indirectly sets up the conflict that happens many years later on “Game of Thrones” surrounding Emilia Clarke’s apparent sole descendant Daenerys Targaryen), premiered in 2022. So why are we talking about “Game of Thrones” at all, and what does it have to do with “Lanterns?”

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Because the 2026 Game of Thrones show, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” is a buddy comedy-drama just like “Lanterns” — and like “Lanterns,” it’s excellent. Breathing new life into the world of Westeros, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” created by showrunner Ira Parker and Martin, adapts Martin’s novella series “Tales of Dunk and Egg” that center around the massively tall “hedge” (read: freelance) knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), his diminutive and secretly highborn squire Aegon “Egg” Targaryen (Dexter Sol Ansell), and their adventures. If you love “Lanterns,” keep scrolling on HBO Max, find “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” queue it up, and enjoy.

If you only know Kyle Chandler from “Lanterns,” somehow, you need to make your way through his full body of work … and aside from movies like “Game Night” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” where Chandler plays phenomenal supporting roles, Friday Night Lights” is a true must-watch. Chandler leads the series — which is adapted from the 1990 nonfiction book “Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream” by H.G. Bissinger and, to a lesser extent, Peter Berg’s 2004 movie by Berg himself and showrunner Jason Katims — as Coach Eric Taylor, who’s in charge of the massively successful high school football team the Dillon Panthers.

During the show’s pilot, Eric, his wife Tami (Connie Britton), and daughter Julie (Aimee Teagarden) are horrified to watch as star quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter) suffers from an injury to his spinal cord that leaves him permanently unable to walk. As Coach Taylor tries to keep the spirits of Jason’s fellow Panthers — like fullback Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), new quarterback Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), and Matt’s best friend Landry Clarke (Jesse Plemons), as well as Jason’s cheerleader girlfriend Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) — high, he also deals with the ups and downs of his home life and tries to hold his own against the intense Dillon community, all of whom are intensely invested in the Panthers. “Friday Night Lights” is more than just a great showcase for Chandler’s talent and range, but it’s also just an excellent show that featured future megastars like Plemons and even Michael B. Jordan early in their careers.

The really cool thing about “The Penguin,” Lauren LeFranc’s HBO acclaimed and award-winning miniseries that dropped in 2024, is that you don’t need to care about DC Comics at all to enjoy this gripping, gritty crime thriller that sees Colin Farrell reprising his role as the villainous Oswald “Oz” Cobb — also known as the Penguin in Gotham — that he originated in the Matt Reeves Batman film in 2022. Obviously, the experience is deepened if you are familiar with the Penguin and his origin in DC Comics, but thanks to LeFranc’s thoughtful storytelling, “The Penguin” isn’t explicitly tied to the villain’s lore and is, instead, a fascinating character study of both Oz and his surprising new enemy, Cristin Milioti’s vengeful Sofia Gigante, née Falcone.

Sofia’s name change actually happens partway through “The Penguin” when, after she’s released from a forced stay at the Arkham State Hospital, is furious at her crime boss father Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong) for putting her there in the first place. As Sofia sets out to regain power of the criminal underworld of Gotham, she finds a natural nemesis in Oz, who wants to maintain his own grip on the city’s seedy underbelly while also looking after his ill mother Frances Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell) and working alongside his new young mentee and acolyte Victor “Vic” Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz). “Lanterns” is considerably more lighthearted than “The Penguin,” but both of them are fresh, exciting, and well-done looks at comic book characters you know and love.

When it comes to official DCU TV projects overseen, in his capacity as the studio head, by James Gunn, there are only two as of this writing: “Lanterns” and “Peacemaker.” “Peacemaker,” which counts Gunn himself as its showrunner, premiered on HBO in early 2022 with wrestler turned actor John Cena portraying the titular Peacemaker. As the super-patriotic Chris Smith, who masquerades as the vigilante known as Peacemaker and is forced under duress to join the organization A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans, which is helmed by Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller), Cena is his reliably charismatic and hilarious self, and he’s joined by quite a cast.

“Orange is the New Black” standout Danielle Brooks shows up as Waller’s daughter Leota Adebayo, “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones” bit player Freddie Stroma gets a bigger showcase as Adrian Chase, a mentee of Peacemaker’s who uses the name Vigilante, and comedic secret weapon Steve Agee is on hand as John Economos, an A.R.G.U.S strategist who helps the gang fight various enemies. “Peacemaker” is a loud, delightful, and incredibly audacious series that goes to some seriously wild places during its Season 2 finale, and if this show and “Lanterns” are the future of the DCU on the small screen, then that future certainly looks bright.

“Lanterns,” along with all of these shows save for “Friday Night Lights,” is streaming on HBO Max. As for “Friday Night Lights,” that’s on Paramount+.