This week’s Lanterns delivers a major turning point, bringing one of HBO’s biggest ongoing mysteries to an explosive apparent conclusion. Since the series began, Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) have been unraveling the secrets surrounding Rushville. In Episode 5, William Macon (Garret Dillahunt) and his allies move decisively to defend their own — while one of the Lanterns appears to accomplish the unthinkable.
**Spoilers for Lanterns Episode 5, now streaming on HBO Max**
The finale of Lanterns Episode 5 sees John Stewart turn Hal Jordan into a distraction as he sets his sights on Manhunter Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan). John may have slept with Zoe twice and seemingly agreed to join her side in return for life-saving technology, but his loyalty to the mission remains intact. His objective is simple and brutal: eliminate the Manhunter. Using his elite marksmanship, John shoots Zoe before removing her heart as proof for the Guardians that the job is done.
When DECIDER spoke with the Lanterns cast last month, Jagannathan said she welcomed the possibility that viewers could have conflicted feelings over Zoe’s fate.
“I think it humanizes Manhunters,” Jagannathan said. “She is technically ‘the villain’, but then you get a glimpse of who she is and why she is who she is: a victim of the Guardians, and a victim of the programming that she comes from.”
“I thought that the role was written with a lot of compassion and it wasn’t a black and white [story],” she continued. “I do think at the end, her survival is tantamount to — she puts that above everything else — hence destruction ensues wherever she goes. Because she’s always under threat and she will always survive and has always survived until now.”
Still, the episode leaves room for questions. Is Zoe truly dead? Has the Manhunter threat actually been eliminated? And what does Zoe’s subtle, near-smile through John’s sniper scope mean? Here’s what to know about the shocking conclusion of Lanterns Episode 5.
Lanterns Episode 5 Ending Explained: Does Zoe Die?
For now, the answer appears to be yes: Zoe dies. John shoots and kills the Manhunter — the same man she had an affair with despite being married to William Macon.
“Shouldn’t have cheated on your husband,” Garret Dillahunt quipped when DECIDER asked about Zoe’s death. William Macon also dies in the episode, though only after making a selfless attempt to serve as a decoy for the wife he loves.
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DECIDER asked Jagannathan what Zoe is thinking when she realizes John is about to pull the trigger. The actor said the Manhunter had “never been outmaneuvered” before that devastating moment.
“She’s always been the smartest person in any situation,” Jagannathan said. “I don’t know if you picked up, but in the beginning of [Episode] 5, she makes a contract with [Kelly Macdonald’s character] Kerry. ‘If I do this for you, you’ll do this for me,’ and so she made that same contract with John. You know, ‘I can help you. I can heal you. I can save you. Do you want to heal?’ And he says, ‘Yes.’”
“So she’s made that contract and no one has ever broken that contract because life is so precious to everyone, right? When you give someone back their life, you’re so indebted. So to meet someone who has outmaneuvered her, it’s quite a moment.”
Does John Stewart Become the Green Lantern in Lanterns Episode 5?
Sort of? Like he gets the ring, but he takes it off before reciting the oath, thereby rejecting the Guardians’ offer.
After killing the Manhunter, John not only takes her heart, but he also yoinks Hal Jordan’s lantern ring. He then puts the ring on and Zoe’s crystalized heart into a bag and meets up with Laura Linney’s Guardian in town. She seems to think everything’s worked out, but John reveals that when he put on the ring, he didn’t feel pride or power; he felt empty.
“Hal betrayed everything to keep this ring. His code, the oath, even himself, and it broke him,” John says. “Probably doesn’t even remember why he wanted the damn thing.”
John then takes the ring off, saying, “And neither do I.”
That’s how Lanterns Episode 5 ends… and it potentially explains why John Stewart isn’t the Green Lantern assigned to protect Earth in the 2020s-set Peacemaker and Superman. That Green Lantern would be Guy Gardiner (Nathan Fillion).