Lanterns Rewrites John Stewart’s DC Origin in a Bold Twist

Contains spoilers for “Lanterns” Season 1, Episode 3 — “OutKast”

The opening moments of the “Lanterns” premiere jumped back to 1996, showing Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler, DC’s newest live-action Green Lantern) sitting for his first “60 Minutes” interview while a young John Stewart tried to watch from home before his father returned. Hal’s account of becoming a Green Lantern stayed largely faithful to the broad strokes of the comics: he grew up in the shadow of a pilot father who died when Hal was young, then was chosen by a dying alien who passed him a Power Ring. Hal later repeats that story to the adult John (Aaron Pierre). But while Hal’s origin remains familiar, the show immediately signals that John’s family history is heading in a very different direction from any version readers have seen on the page.

Before the series cuts to John and Hal working together in the present, John’s marine father drags him outside and tries to teach him the “no fear” mindset associated with the Green Lantern Corps by placing an apple on the boy’s head and shooting it off. At first, the scene seems designed to frame him as an abusive parent, a man so fixated on turning his son into a superhero that he terrorized his own household. It also raised a mystery: how could he know fearlessness was a Green Lantern requirement when Hal only revealed that detail publicly during the TV interview, which John’s father was not in the room to hear? Episode 3, “OutKast,” finally returns to that 1990s timeline and reveals what was really behind John Stewart’s childhood — and how sharply the HBO series is departing from DC Comics canon.

The Guardians of the Universe are not usually known for conducting formal job interviews, but “Lanterns” reimagines them as quietly assessing possible successors to Hal Jordan. The one clear comic-book echo is the implication that they have been watching John Stewart for much of his life. The major twist is that John’s father, John Sr. (J. Alphonse Nicholson), had already been taken by the Guardians and tested. When they asked whether he was afraid, he answered yes — and failed his chance to become a Green Lantern, all while baby John watched from his crib. Years later, seeing Hal unmasked and hearing him describe that same question as part of his own selection sends John Sr. spiraling, with the episode making a passing reference to his alcoholism, though it stops short of portraying him as the outright abuser seen in some comic interpretations.

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The episode deepens the reveal when a representative of the Guardians, played by “Ozark” star Laura Linney, arrives at the Stewart home to offer compensation for the harm the family suffered. She explains that, because of cultural differences, the Guardians failed to understand how their selection process could cause trauma in a country where unprovoked racial violence is tragically common. In her conversation with John’s mother, Bernadette (Nicole Ari Parker), Linney’s character says the same genetic qualities that made John Sr. a candidate are also present in his son. For John to be seriously considered as a future Green Lantern, however, he would need to be raised without fear. She promises the family that when the next opening among the Lanterns appears, John will get a fair chance. That revelation completely reframes the premiere’s cold open and John’s relationship with his parents, making John Sr.’s harsh training less the cruelty of a tyrant and more a misguided attempt to prepare his son for the destiny he himself was denied.

Introduced in “Green Lantern” Vol. 2 #87 in December 1971, John Stewart was initially depicted as the only son to a single mother, a budding architect who was chosen by the Guardians of the Universe to be Hal Jordan’s backup after Guy Gardner was injured in action. John and Hal had the same testy dynamic we’ve seen in this series, with John’s first mission of protecting a racist politician from an assassination attempt initially going as badly as you’d expect when entrusted to a Civil Rights activist. Hal was quickly won over when John proved it was staged to suit a right-wing agenda.

The character’s origin was rebooted twice during DC’s New Earth period, with the post “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and post “Zero Hour” iterations both having more tortured childhoods. The latter version’s father was an alcoholic who abused his wife regularly. In both cases, he had a far closer relationship with his Aunt Loretta (not depicted in this series so far). It was her who motivated him to become an activist and architect, in the latter origin because he stole her car to joyride at 15 and crashed into a drunk-driver, affirming that he wanted to change and do good.

“Lanterns” lifts more from the 2011 comics reboot, in which John’s a former marine (something that was introduced in the animated series “Justice League Unlimited” before being slowly incorporated into the comics by Geoff Johns in the late ’00s). Here, his childhood is different once again: He was constantly in trouble with the police and had a little sister who died young. Nobody in his life was aware of his destiny, and although the Guardians kept an eye on him, they put him through a heroic test rather than an unconventional job interview like in the series. While many of his traits from the comics are present in “Lanterns,” DCU John had a very different childhood to any incarnation we’ve previously seen.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.