HBO’s ‘Lanterns’ Finally Explains Why Hal Jordan Crashed the Car
‘Lanterns’ has spent its first month on HBO building a slow burn mystery around two Green Lantern Corps members investigating a murder in the American heartland. Episode four ended that patience abruptly, with veteran Lantern Hal Jordan driving his car directly into a tree while his trainee John Stewart sat in the passenger seat.
The moment left viewers stunned, not because Hal Jordan has never done something reckless before, but because the show had spent weeks establishing him as the more restrained half of the partnership. The answer to why he did it turns out to be rooted in betrayal, manipulation, and a secret John Stewart had been keeping from him.
Hal Jordan’s Reckless Test for John Stewart
Long before the crash that closed episode four, ‘Lanterns’ had already shown Hal Jordan is willing to put his trainee in physical danger to prove a point. In the series premiere, John Stewart had been training to become a backup Green Lantern for two months without ever putting on the ring, and Hal, rumpled and hungover, told him not to get hung up on the jewelry. Moments later, Hal removed his own ring, set it on the dashboard, and told John he would meet him at a taco stand up the road before rolling out of the moving vehicle, leaving John to scramble for the ring before the car ran off the road.
That early stunt set the tone critics have pointed to since the premiere. Reviewers who saw the show ahead of release noted the prickly chemistry between Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler as one of its strongest assets, alongside a supporting cast led by Kelly Macdonald, Poorna Jagannathan, and Garret Dillahunt. Variety’s review described the pairing as mismatched partners in space law enforcement whose fraught relationship plays out across a split timeline, comparing the structure to ‘True Detective.’
By episode four, that same recklessness resurfaced in a much darker form. Hal Jordan does not crash the car as a training exercise this time, and the stakes are no longer hypothetical for John Stewart, who is genuinely at risk in the moment.
The Manhunter Reveal and John Stewart’s Lie
The crash itself is triggered by a confrontation over the show’s central mystery, the identity of the Manhunter. Hal is already afraid of being replaced, and the breaking point comes when he and John confront a character connected to Hector Hammond, during which Hal learns John is working with the Guardians to betray him. Hal is given one final chance while the two discuss the Manhunter’s identity, and he figures out on his own that it is Zoe, realizing John has been keeping her secret from him.
That discovery is what pushes Hal over the edge. With that realization, he crashes the car in an attempt to, at best, incapacitate John and, at worst, kill him, raising the question of whether fear has finally gotten the better of him. The scene plays as the culmination of weeks of mounting suspicion rather than a sudden, unmotivated act.
Were you shocked about the Manhunter reveal?
Series writer and producer Breannah Gibson addressed the moment directly on the show’s official companion podcast, framing it as a collapse of trust rather than a simple loss of control. Gibson said the car crash shows Hal at his most selfish, describing him in blunter terms as well. She explained that once Hal knows John is aware it is Zoe, and John lies about it anyway, that becomes the final straw for him, leading him to conclude that Sinestro was right about everything.
Sinestro’s Grip on Hal Jordan
Gibson’s comments also connect the crash to a much older relationship in Hal Jordan’s history, one with his former mentor turned imprisoned villain, Sinestro. Gibson explained that no matter how much time passes, someone who once mentored and was looked up to retains the power to manipulate and trick a person into doing their bidding, and that dynamic still applies to Hal and Sinestro.
That manipulation, according to Gibson, is not incidental. Sinestro is currently in prison after failing to take over the Green Lantern Corps, a downfall his former protégé Hal helped bring about, and he is not offering Hal advice out of any goodwill. Gibson detailed Sinestro’s actual instructions to Hal, which involve using John, being vulnerable in front of him to get him close, and then betraying him to learn the Manhunter’s identity so that information can be used as leverage with the Guardians.
Gibson was blunt about Sinestro’s true motivation behind that scheme. He does not actually care about either Hal Jordan or John Stewart, he simply wants out of prison and needs someone to eventually break him free, so he is setting up the dominoes to make that happen. Framed that way, the car crash becomes less about a sudden breakdown and more about Hal unconsciously following a script his old mentor planted in his head.
What Comes Next for Hal Jordan in ‘Lanterns’
The fallout from the crash points toward familiar comic book territory. Longtime readers of DC Comics know Hal’s reckless streak is not new for the character, and the show appears to be building toward the storyline in which Hal Jordan becomes the villain Parallax. Gibson teased that Hal has to wrap the car around a tree, jump out, and fly away, setting him up to implement Sinestro’s plan going forward.
Kyle Chandler has spoken about how that volatility between Hal and John developed on screen well before the crash aired. Chandler told Entertainment Weekly that Aaron Pierre has a way of giving him a look that suggests he could break his neck if he wanted to, a dynamic the two actors built together in the car scenes central to the show.
The series has continued rolling out new episodes on a weekly schedule since its premiere. ‘Lanterns’ debuted on Aug. 16 as an eight episode season airing on HBO with episodes also streaming on HBO Max, created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King. New episodes continue airing Sunday nights at 9 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max.
Whether Hal Jordan is already too far gone to pull back from Sinestro’s plan, or whether John Stewart can still reach the version of his mentor that existed before the crash, is shaping up to be the question that carries the rest of the season. What did you make of Hal’s decision to turn on his own trainee, and do you think ‘Lanterns’ is building toward a full Parallax turn before the finale?
