HBO’s first look at Lanterns — the DCU’s upcoming Green Lantern series — arrives with a surprising twist: the trailer quietly hints at two unexpected Corps members who might be joining Hal Jordan and John Stewart when the show lands in late summer 2026. The footage, screened during an HBO Max Upfront event in Brazil, focuses heavily on Kyle Chandler’s Hal and Aaron Pierre’s John, establishing their uneasy partnership and the show’s grounded, True Detective-style mystery. But tucked into that preview were clues pointing toward a pair of deep-cut Green Lanterns that most fans didn’t expect to see teased this early.
The trailer reveals that Hal Jordan isn’t originally meant to be John Stewart’s trainer — he’s stepping in for someone else whose absence the series hasn’t explained yet. That detail alone opens the door for a familiar mentor figure from the Corps. Kilowog is the most logical candidate. Long depicted as the chief drill instructor of the Green Lantern Corps, he’s the character most strongly tied to Lantern training, and he’s played that role for decades across comics, animation, and earlier live-action versions. The notion that he might be John’s intended teacher fits neatly into established lore.
Another name that fits the setup is Katma Tui, who acted as John Stewart’s mentor in the Justice League animated series. While she hasn’t traditionally occupied the Corps’ drill-sergeant position like Kilowog, her history with Stewart makes her a viable candidate — especially if the show wants to echo the emotional and character-driven arcs that defined animation-era Stewart. Still, given the DCU’s emphasis on leaning into classic mythology, Kilowog appears to be the more likely presence behind the trailer tease.
The footage also includes a brief reference to a “squirrel Green Lantern,” which immediately points toward either Ch’p or his successor B’dg — both beloved, highly unusual Corps members who have become fan favorites because of their oddball appearances and earnest personalities. Earlier speculation tied a similar creature in James Gunn’s Superman set photos to a possible Lantern cameo, but that turned out to be nothing more than a squirrel cameo in a rescue scene. Lanterns appears to be intentionally calling back to this curiosity, hinting that Ch’p might exist somewhere within the DCU’s broader cosmic backdrop.
What makes these potential additions surprising is the tonal direction Lanterns is taking. The series has been described repeatedly as a grounded detective story set on Earth, closer in spirit to True Detective than a space-faring epic. Early reports emphasize a Western edge to its aesthetic, highlighting lonely landscapes, interpersonal tension, and a central mystery rather than intergalactic adventure. Against that backdrop, Kilowog and Ch’p — characters who rely heavily on CGI and embody the cosmic weirdness of the Corps — seem like unlikely fits for the show’s restrained tone.
If the characters appear only through references or brief communications rather than full CGI screen time, that approach would allow Lanterns to acknowledge the wider Corps without disrupting its grounded structure. Even without them appearing physically, just acknowledging their roles expands the scope of the DCU’s new continuity and signals that the Green Lantern Corps is much larger than the two leads we see on Earth.
For fans, that layered approach builds anticipation without promising something the show can’t deliver visually or tonally. And with Guy Gardner and Sinestro already confirmed for the DCU, Lanterns has plenty of room to explore familiar characters while holding back its most alien Corps members for future chapters — or future shows — where the storytelling may shift away from grounded drama and back into deep-space territory.
