“If that’s exactly what that is”: Fans decode James Gunn's remark on Hal Jordan's death in Lanterns

Lanterns continues to dominate viewership numbers every Sunday on HBO. Set in the DCU, the premiere episode ends with a shocking flash forward to 2026. In that scene, we learn that Hal Jordan is dead, and only three people know that the Green Lantern legend is dead: John Stewart, Kerry Kane, and the groundskeeper. The week's sixth episode returns to this mystery after episodes 2, 3, 4, and 5 were set in 2016.

Hal's death serves as the central hook of the HBO DCU series, as viewers continue to watch the show every week to solve the mystery. This week a fan reached out to James Gunn on Threads criticizing Lanterns' choice to kill off Hal Jordan, as Hal was the Green Lantern for an entire generation of comic book readers. However, James Gunn's reply has some fans convinced that Hal might be alive.

Gunn's response read:

"Hal's the star of TV series & he's in all the episodes so far. It's more live action screen time than all the live action screen time he's had combined throughout history. Kyle is amazing in the role. We more than respect him. We love him, despite his imperfections. Us knowing the time of his death, if that's exactly what that is, is absolutely not the same thing as killing him off right away. Hal is a big reason why the show is so popular with fans & non fans alike; sorry if you don't like it."

James Gunn's reply has re-ignited a major Lanterns fan debate:

Ever since the second episode, fans have questioned Hal Jordan's death. That episode reveals that Manhunters are shapeshifters. At that time, a prevalent theory was the "Hal" whose body John and Kerry inspect is that of a Manhunter. After the fourth episode, some fans even believed that John's tears were not for Hal but rather Zoe.

But Zoe is killed off in 2016 by John himself in the fifth episode. HBO dropped the Lanterns midseason trailer which put forward a new theory about Hal's death.

In the image above, we see Hal lying on the floor with his arm spread out. Fans noticed a dot on his arm, the same one that we saw on John Stewart's arm in episode 5 when he is healed by Zoe's machine. This scene has spawned theories that some people in Rushville abducted Hal, cloned him, and placed his duplicate's body in the stadium seats to throw off Kerry Kane.

James Gunn's response to the fan has only made many fans believe that Hal might not be dead in the DCU. A Reddit user even pointed to the Spanish subtitle for Hal in the fifth episode.

For those who don't know, the Spanish subtitle described Hal as a clone in last week's episode.

Some fans even grudgingly gave Gunn credit for the phrase, "if that's exactly what that is", knowing that it would be discussed online.

The preview for the seventh episode follows John and "Hal" teaming up:

The sixth Lanterns episode ends with John digging up Hal's grave. Jordan was buried in his Green Lantern suit, wearing the ring that was decommissioned after Stewart refused it. John takes the ring and summons the ring's backup consciousness, which also looks like Hal. John dubs this consciousness "Halogram" in the 2016 portion.

The preview for the seventh episode shows John teaming up with Halogram to solve Hal Jordan's death. Some even believe that the next episode will take John across the galaxy as he interrogates Sinestro, who might be the primary suspect in Hal Jordan's murder investigation. But we will get a better picture of the central mystery either before or in the Lanterns finale.

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Six episodes of Lanterns are streaming on HBO Max. Rewatch them all before the seventh episode airs this Sunday.

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