‘Lanterns’ Finale Officially Introduces an Defining Element of Green Lantern Lore

Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for the Lanterns finale.

Lanterns has finally come to an end (for now). With Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) dead and his consciousness lost to the ring, John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) has now claimed the title of Green Lantern for himself. But the finale also offers a unique twist on the traditional lore in the form of Sinestro's (Ulrich Thomsen) influence on John's new heroic identity and powers. In order to craft a new power battery, Sinestro infuses the lantern with yellow streaks of fear, thus finally introducing one of the most vital aspects of Green Lantern mythos to the DC Universe.

'Lanterns' Finale Introduces the Yellow Energy of Fear

While Lanterns finds some clever ways to subvert Hal's story, the finale furthers the subversion by extending the idea to John. When Sinestro offers him the lantern he made for the Manhunter Noah (Shea Pritchard), it appears corrupted by yellow energy. Sinestro explains this as fear. Just as green energy is a construct of the will, so too is yellow based in fear. It's an interesting idea to merge a Green Lantern's power with that of his enemy. In fact, for a long time in DC Comics' history, yellow was the only color a Green Lantern ring wouldn't work against. This "yellow impurity" was later explained by Geoff Johns in his seminal Green Lantern comic book run to have been a consequence of the fear entity Parallax, which had been trapped within the Central Power Battery of Oa. Thus, Parallax corrupted all Green Lantern rings by proxy. Eventually, this weakness was written out, but the color has a long, storied history with Green Lantern beyond that.

Traditionally, Sinestro is the one who wields a yellow power ring. This is why the 2011 Green Lantern movie ends with Mark Strong's Sinestro placing one on his finger. Sinestro would become Hal Jordan's nemesis for decades before none other than Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) would later take up the yellow power ring as his own. But John Stewart isn't a character known for embracing fear in this way, and the idea postulated by Lanterns — that his lantern would contain both the green willpower of the Green Lantern Corps and the yellow energy of fear — feels almost like a contradiction. While Lanterns never gave Green Lantern rings a weakness to yellow, perhaps this is how that idea gets introduced in the DC Universe. It seems likely that Sinestro could be using it as a gateway to spread his own influence on John, just as he did with Hal for years.

Could the Sinestro Corps Be Coming to the DCU?

While Lanterns hasn't yet been confirmed to return for a second season, that doesn't mean this is the last we'll see of John Stewart or Sinestro. In all likelihood, James Gunn has further plans for these characters that go far beyond Rushville. Given that Sinestro has crafted one lantern battery, would it be so hard to believe that he also made others? In the comics, Sinestro eventually launches the Sinestro Corps, a fear-based organization that runs in stark contrast to the Green Lantern Corps. Given that John is now operating as an independent Green Lantern, that certainly puts him in a weird middle spot that could be fun to explore.

With John and Guy set to appear next in Man of Tomorrow, it could be that film springboards a larger DC storyline that revisits the newfound rivalry between Sinestro and John Stewart. It's curious that the "Halogram" didn't want John to use the battery at first, noticing how Sinestro had corrupted it, but only changed his mind after he saw how John handled the situation with Noah. Could it be that John has the ability to balance fear and will? Lanterns may not assert that yellow-based fear energy is a weakness to green-based willpower, but that would make for an interesting second season.

Lanterns is available for streaming on HBO Max.