‘Lanterns’ Rewrites John Stewart’s Origin, and the Writers Explain the Reason Why
‘Lanterns’ has spent its first three episodes building toward one of the more striking creative choices in recent superhero television, a full reworking of John Stewart’s backstory. Rather than lean on the character’s decades old comic book history, the HBO series has constructed something new, and it has prompted plenty of conversation among longtime readers of the source material.
The change is not incidental. Episode 3, titled OutKast, delves into an origin that is entirely unique to the world of Lanterns, tying John Stewart’s story into more modern conversations around race. That framing has become central to understanding why the show’s creative team decided to move away from the character readers have known since the 1970s.
John Stewart’s Comic Book Origin Before The Show
John Stewart was introduced in Green Lantern Vol. 2 issue 87 in December 1971, depicted as the only son of a single mother, a budding architect chosen by the Guardians of the Universe to serve as Hal Jordan’s backup after Guy Gardner was injured. As one of the first African American superheroes in comic book history, John was written as a college educated architect meant to offer a more positive depiction of Black representation at a time when Black characters were often shown in a hostile or negative light.
In the source material, the character was originally written as an architect and civil rights activist who actively distrusted authority. That version would later shift when the Justice League animated series recast him as a former U.S. Marine, a change creator Bruce Timm made because he felt John’s original militant, Black Panther inspired persona no longer felt relevant, and that military background eventually became official comic canon when Geoff Johns retconned it in Green Lantern vol. 4 issue 26 in 2007.
The character’s origin was rebooted twice more during DC’s New Earth period, with post Crisis on Infinite Earths and post Zero Hour versions both giving him a more difficult childhood, including a father written as an alcoholic who regularly abused his wife. That layered history of revision is part of what made the character available for yet another reinterpretation on screen.
Why Lanterns Changed John Stewart’s Backstory
In the new HBO series, John’s shifting origins are actually woven together rather than replaced outright, beginning with his mother Bernadette meeting one of the Guardians and negotiating her son’s eventual place as a Green Lantern. The show reveals that John Stewart Sr. was originally offered the ring before Hal Jordan but failed the test, which reframes John’s own selection as something inherited rather than accidental.
Impressed by Bernadette, the Guardian who visits the family offers a second chance at the ring to her and John’s infant son, setting off a lifelong preparation to become the ideal Green Lantern candidate. Bernadette and John Sr. train the boy from childhood to be fearless, including having him endure target practice with an apple balanced on his head, shaping him into a stoic young man who eventually joins the Marines.
The show adds another layer when a Guardian visits the family while John is still an infant and offers compensation to his mother for what the ring selection process put his father through. It becomes clear in that exchange that the Guardians believe John Sr.’s genetic makeup means his offspring could become a viable candidate if raised to be fearless, which pushes Bernadette to consider raising her son for that exact purpose.
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Writer Vanessa Baden Kelly addressed the reasoning behind the overhaul directly. She told TheWrap that the writers room felt Hal Jordan’s comic history was already extensively developed while John’s felt comparatively thin, and that the team wanted to go an extra layer deep with his character rather than simply import decades of dense, sometimes dated comic lore wholesale.
John Stewart’s Transformation Into A Marine
That childhood conditioning eventually leads John into the U.S. Marines, where he becomes one of the branch’s standout recruits. One mission puts him on a collision course with Hal Jordan, after months spent staking out an international fugitive are undone when Hal swoops in and takes the target for himself, and the resulting fallout leads to John’s dishonorable discharge.
A clip released ahead of the episode confirmed that the Guardians told John’s parents he had been chosen as Sector 2814’s next Green Lantern while he was still a baby, which is why his upbringing involved such unusual and demanding tests of nerve. That detail reframes much of what viewers had already seen in earlier episodes regarding John’s discipline and detachment.
Series writer Vanessa Baden Kelly also drew a comparison to how other long running franchises handle character revision, noting that a completely different universe like the MCU faces similar questions about which version of a hero’s backstory to honor, pointing to the different accounts of how Peter Parker’s web shooters work as an example of a franchise folding in and altering established details over time.
Critical And Fan Reaction To ‘Lanterns’
The response to the series overall has been largely positive. Variety described the show as recalling Watchmen in its wry humor and grounded fantasy, noting that Watchmen co creator Damon Lindelof serves as one of three credited co creators on Lanterns alongside showrunner Chris Mundy, whose credits include True Detective and Ozark, and comics writer Tom King.
The Hollywood Reporter compared the dynamic between Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart to a Jack Reacher story, with Pierre playing the swaggering outsider who arrives in a small Nebraska town and unravels a mid level conspiracy alongside his partner and a power ring. Reporting from an advance screening noted that Lanterns had been performing strongly on HBO since its debut, citing solid ratings and favorable reviews heading into its third episode.
The series follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan as they investigate a murder in Rushville, Nebraska, with the story split across a 2016 timeline focused on Hal training John and a present day 2026 investigation set roughly a year after the events of Superman and Peacemaker Season 2. While HBO has not yet issued an official renewal, Lindelof has confirmed that Mundy has already started a new writers room to brainstorm future seasons.
For a character who has already been reshaped by animation, by a major 2007 comic retcon, and now by a prestige HBO drama, John Stewart’s identity has rarely stayed still for long, and it is worth asking which version of his story, the architect, the Marine, or this new conditioned recruit, resonates most with the audience actually watching him become a Green Lantern.
