'Lanterns' Shocking Episode 1 Reveal Explained

The text below contains spoilers for the first episode of Lanterns.

The bulk of the story in Lanterns, DC Studios' series about the Green Lantern duo Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), takes place in 2016, when the two head to Rushville, Nebraska, to investigate a shooting that Jordan believes is connected to aliens.

• 'Lanterns' Premieres with Mystery, Death, and a Strong Start

Over the course of the series' first two episodes, we see Jordan and Stewart confirming that yes, there are aliens in Rushville, and they apparently are there because the Guardians of the Universe, creators of the Green Lanterns, hid a Manhunter — a synthetic being that patrolled space before the Lanterns did (and with more lethal force) — in the town. Is there really a Manhunter in the city? Why was it taken there instead of being destroyed? All of these questions will be explored throughout the story, which takes on the shape of a police thriller, but the biggest mystery is not that.

Who killed Hal Jordan?

The ending of the first episode of Lanterns jumps ahead 10 years to 2026, when we see an older John Stewart returning to Rushville, reconnecting with local sheriff Kerry (Kelly Macdonald), and heading to the same high school football field where the shooting took place back in 2016. The two climb the snow-covered bleachers, and we see why Kerry called John back to town.

Covered in snow, Hal Jordan appears to be dead, without his ring, and with blood on his head. He seems to have been shot.

In a series with shape-shifting aliens, you can never be sure of anything, especially with a scene that lasts five minutes and offers zero context, deliberately keeping us in the dark, but it seems that the big mystery of Lanterns will be Hal Jordan's death.

Line up the suspects. Could this be the work of a Manhunter (a popular theory is that they will be part of the story)? Could local cowboy William Macon (Garret Dillahunt, playing Kerry's father-in-law and the leader of an anti-alien militia) have been responsible? Or are there other figures involved? Released alongside the first episode, the second chapter does not return to 2026, nor does it offer any more answers on that front. Now, we have six more episodes to find out.