Charge those power rings, folks! (Or at least make sure your TVs are plugged in.) The latest DC Studios TV series premieres this Sunday, August 16th on HBO Max—the long-awaited Lanterns. Created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and acclaimed DC Comics writer Tom King, the show stars Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as grizzled veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan and his taciturn trainee John Stewart. Lanterns finds the pair investigating a murder mystery in Rushville, Nebraska, where they run afoul of the town’s no-nonsense sheriff Kerry (played by Kelly Macdonald), as well as xenophobic rancher William Macon (Garret Dillahunt) and his lonely wife Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), who immediately sets her sights on John. As befits a mystery, everyone in town has a secret.
Jagannathan, known for her role in HBO’s The Night Of as well as the series Never Have I Ever and Deli Boys, says Zoe’s attracted to John as a fellow outsider.
“We're both people of color in a very white town, where we have an instant affinity,” she explains. “We joke about it. I say, ‘How's your white man?’ We seem to be beholden to our white bosses, our white counterparts. There's an immediate attraction. Then, as the relationship progresses, they both start investing in each other in a way that's unexpected. It begins as a fling, then it turns into something much deeper. In the end, she's really trying to protect John Stewart from her husband. She's trying to get him to leave town ‘to save yourself, your own life. Because if you stay here, you'll get killed.’”
Dillahunt, who’s starred in shows like Deadwood and Fear the Walking Dead, along with acclaimed films like No Country for Old Men and 12 Years a Slave, smiles when describing William and Zoe’s feelings towards the Lanterns.
“It's a weird blend between the two of us: antagonistic and super welcoming,” he says. “But in general, we wish they weren't there. We don't feel we need their help and we try to get them in and out of town by hook or crook…and a little bit of seduction. There's an assumption with the Lanterns that they're wanted everywhere, and then they get to Rushville and they are not wanted and needed here. We built a community that is safe, prospering and peaceful, and we don't want superheroes or aliens in our town.”
As for why William permits his wife’s dalliance with Stewart, Dillahunt remarks, “I owe her so much. I was dying before I met her. Everything in his life at this point is just gravy, you know? So, it's a really easy thing for him to do, to offer the rest of that life in her service. It's what makes him dangerous. He doesn't really have anything to lose. We've lived decades like this, in harmony, building communities. There's no sickness. Everyone's happy. The hospitals are empty. The fruit trees are busting out. All of it.”
Upon entering this Eden, the Lanterns meet Macdonald’s Kerry, who’s married to William’s loyal son Billy.
“She's from Gotham,” says Macdonald, star of modern classics like Trainspotting, Gosford Park and No Country for Old Men. “When I heard that, I got goosebumps. I really liked her vibe. I just liked how passionate she is and no nonsense and in charge. It's great to play characters like that. Sometimes certain scripts get sent your way, and this one just felt like something very compelling before I read a word of it.”
Fiercely protective of her town and family, Macdonald’s sheriff clashes with Lanterns’ wise-cracking Hal Jordan.
“It’s like they love to hate each other,” she explains. “Or she loves to hate him anyway. He just finds it all delightful, how angry she gets. Yeah, he really winds her up. What we say in the UK is that he's a ‘wind-up merchant.’ He's a total wind-up merchant, and she understands what he's trying to do from the get-go and she just wants them gone by any means necessary. Then he just keeps pushing her and pushing her and pushing her. At a certain point, she realizes she's not getting rid of him and she just has to work alongside him.”
Macdonald sought to bring some of her childhood love of Superman and Lois Lane’s chemistry to Kerry’s relationship with Hal.
“That's what I was hoping for,” she shares. “I grew up in the ‘80s, and Christopher Reeve’s Superman was the guy, the superhero. The whole Superman/Lois Lane dynamic was something that I loved. I also referenced, at one point, the Harrison Ford and Karen Allen dynamic in the Indiana Jones movies. Her energy and fight. Then there's a bit of Mare of Easttown in there and Fargo. All these good things.”
Jagannathan and Dillahunt were also impacted in their formative years by DC.
“I was really, really inappropriately head over heels [in love] with Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman,” admits Jagannathan. “Way into my teenage years. In so many ways, as a kid, the genre becomes a lifeline, you know?”
“I am an actual comic book collector,” explains Dillahunt. “I have got fifteen comic boxes, from all kinds of publishers. I mainly collect artists that I love. I was very excited to be part of this. One of my favorite series was the Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up in the early '70s by Neal Adams and Dennis O'Neil. I dug that…and I made a sort of small, half-hearted attempt to be Green Arrow.”
“But the seed I planted,” he laughs, “it didn't take in James Gunn's mind.”
Lanterns, starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, debuts this Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.
Joseph McCabe writes about comics, film and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Instagram at @joe_mccabe_editor.
