Lanterns: John Stewart could be a Yellow Lantern in the finale and we have proof

Lanterns is chugging towards the finale, which airs on HBO this Sunday. The penultimate episode ends with a setup for the key scene in the finale: John Stewart interrogating Thaal Sinestro. As of now, the eight episodes have involved just the Green Lantern Corps and Manhunters, two elements from the Green Lantern comics.

The third act of this week’s episode was set in an alien planet, which is revealed to be the planet from which Antaan hails. This planet is saturated with the color yellow. Considering that the Yellow Lanterns and the Green Lantern Corps are arch rivals, the fear-based Lantern Corps might appear in the finale of the HBO series.

Lanterns finale - Will John be a Yellow Lantern in the finale?

In the comics, the Yellow Lantern Corps rings are powered by fear, which is the opposite of the Green Lantern rings, powered by will. Social media post from 2023 features the offcial promo art featuring both Jordan and Strewart. In that art, we can see John Stewart is surrounded by the color yellow.

The artwork above is from the Earth One comics. This is a compelling evidence in favor of this dark theory. Hal takes a villainous turn in the controversial 1994 comic Emerald Twilight. HBO’s Lanterns could flip the script by changing it to John Stewart. However, there is one problem with this theory.

The series has been painting John as a fearless candidate for the Green Lantern Corps. If he were to betray it all, it would ruin the character who is set to play a role in the rest of the DCU.

However, there is one way the HBO series can set up the Yellow Lantern Corps in the finale. It can show the formation of the Yellow Lantern ring. There is another reason why Stewart could join the Yellow Lantern Corps in the finale.

Aaron Pierre has been confirmed to appear in Man of Tomorrow as the other Green Lantern. Thus, John may just flirt with the Yellow Lantern ring (if it appears in the finale) for a short while before he remembers his childhood training to not feel fear. Moreover, it is unclear if we will see the Yellow Lantern Corps physically in the HBO series finale.

Episode 7 sets up Parallax:

Halogram (the ring's backup consciousness) and John Stewart travel to Antaan’s destroyed planet in the seventh episode. The sky looks uncharacteristically yellow. The color yellow has a huge significance in the Green Lantern lore.

When it comes to Green Lantern adaptations, the color yellow is not an accident, The Yellow Lanterns are the Green Lantern Corps' arch rivals afterall, thus it is prudent to pay attention to anything yellow in the HBO series.

The only other color noticeable in the planet is a blue beam emitting from an island in the middle of the lake. As the two are rowing on the lake, it is raining, and John experiences hallucinations, even pulling a gun on the hallucinatory vision of his younger self.

The backup consciousness brings John Stewart to his senses, and John deduces that the fear gas that destroyed life in Antaan’s planet is still in the air and in the rainwater. This fear toxin could be why the sky looks yellow. This could be the show’s version of Parallax’s bug form.

It is by using the remnants of the fear toxin that Sinestro could forge the Yellow Lantern ring. However, it should be noted that this is just a fan theory, and the finale could go a different way altogether.

The Lanterns finale could introduce another Lantern Corps though:

The official preview for the finale has an interesting scene in the 25-second mark. John is wearing a Lantern ring that looks different. The we can't notice any golden embellishments in the ring. Hal Jordan's Green Lantern ring looks like this in the 2026 storyline:

However, the ring that John is wearing in the episode 8 preview looks different:

Golden bands are not that pronounced, and instead of green the we can see black in the center. This could mean that we can see the formation of a new Lantern ring in the finale. But we won't know which color it emmits until the finale on Sunday.

If this new ring is indeed a Yellow Lantern ring, he could still be a hero like like he is in the Earth One continuity. Moreover, James Gunn used the Earth One artwork for announcing Lanterns in January 2023. Therefore, the official artwork could suggest that the HBO series could be inspired by the Green Lantern: Earth One comics.

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Do you think John Stewart might take a villainous turn in the Lanterns finale? Let us know.

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