Comic backstories are usually in a state of flux, with pieces of history picked up and deployed at a writer’s whim to suit whatever story they’re trying to tell.
But there are (usually) hard and fast rules: Superman landed in Kansas, Bruce Wayne watched his parents die in Crime Alley, and Hal Jordan watched his father die in a test flight.
While Lanterns keeps the latter intact, it offers up a key tweak that not only reframes the character – but the entirety of Kyle Chandler’s excellent performance so far.
Spoilers for Lanterns episode 7 follow.
In the penultimate episode of Lanterns’ first season, we – and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart – discover the ‘Jordan Boys’ Legacy’.
Far from being a DC MacGuffin or interstellar trinket, it is, in fact, evidence of generational trauma passed down from one Jordan male to another. Hal’s father actually wanted to die on that test flight, while Hal has been struggling with his own mental health issues ever since.
In one moment, the Halogram – Hal’s AI backup – neatly summarizes it: “I’m not fearless because I’m brave; I’m fearless because I’m broken.”
When discussing the change with The Wrap, showrunner Chris Mundy and co-creator Damon Lindelof were acutely aware of not wanting to mess with established comic history too much.
“When you’re playing around with the canon, you have to treat it like you’re handling plutonium,” Lindelof said. “But at the same time, there’s kind of no fun and creativity and originality in that, so you simultaneously sort of have to start to kind of iterate.”
Of the reasoning behind the change, Munday stated, “It’s more to build into the character. It’s more history. It’s more darkness. It’s more pathology of the character.”
Of course, that puts the mystery of who killed Hal Jordan into even sharper focus. The finale will hopefully provide some answers, even if the spectre of the Jordan Boys’ Legacy looms large.
Lanterns is airing on HBO and HBO Max in the US and NOW TV and HBO Max in the UK.
For more, check out the Lanterns release schedule and our guide to DCU Chapter One and upcoming DC movies.