Lanterns Episode 6 Ending, Explained: Hal Jordan's Fate Confirmed, and a Major Cameo
As we mentioned in our last recap, many viewers considered Lanterns Episode 5 a soft season finale.
In that episode, the 2016 story was wrapped up. The mystery surrounding the Manhunter was finally solved, and there was, in short, a lot of bloodshed.
Sure, the Manhunter was killed, but in the process, the whole of Rushville was caught up in the battle. It effectively left the town in ruins, with many losing their lives. In the aftermath of all this destruction, John Stewart had the chance to finally step up as the Green Lantern. But after working for the mantle all his life, he left everyone shocked by ultimately rejecting the ring.
In Episode 6, we skip ahead a decade to find out our main players attempted to rebuild their lives — and needless to say, some fared better than others. We also circle back to the central mystery introduced at the very end of the first episode, where it was revealed that Hal Jordan had been murdered.
As we dive into what happened in this 2026-centric Lanterns episode, including how it ends, please be advised that there are big spoilers ahead.
Is Hal Jordan Really Dead?
For those of you who were hoping for a fake-out, there isn’t one. At least, not yet.
Episode 6 confirms that Hal really is gone. We also find out that before he was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, he had one final stand-off with John in the town’s coffee shop. John ended up punching him in the nose, and Hal begged him to tell no one in town he was there. John kept his word, but in the process, didn’t tell Sheriff Kerry Kane about his meeting with him — even when the person in the morgue flagged his broken nose. John ended up regretting that decision when, later on in the episode, a young woman called Maggie, who was a child the day Rushville was attacked, decided to blackmail him over the secret.
Despite everyone in the town (apart from Kerry) more or less despising him, Hal chose to stay in Rushville after serving a decade in prison for all the carnage caused that fateful day. By all accounts, he tried hard to make amends, but Rushville is far from healed. So, in terms of who killed him, the suspect list is pretty long.
Does Guy Gardner Show Up?
Yes, Superman's Guy Gardner finally appears in this episode. After Hal’s incarceration and John’s rejection, Guy becomes the next Green Lantern of Earth. He installs what is essentially a rip-off of the Bat-Signal in Rushville, which nobody ever uses because, unsurprisingly, everyone hates the Green Lantern.
Proving that point, when John uses it to summon Guy, it doesn’t work until he’s locked up in a holding cell for defending himself against Kerry’s ex-husband and other agitated townies who don’t want him to call the Green Lantern.
After some persuasion from John, who reminds him that the only reason he’s Green Lantern is because of him turning down the role, Guy ends up retrieving Hal’s suit and Power Ring from Oa so his predecessor can be buried in it. The former P.E. teacher even briefly pays his respects at Hal’s funeral, which, also unsurprisingly, is pretty sparsely attended (though Carol Ferris, his love interest from the comics and the 2011 movie, shows up).
What Happened To Hal’s Power Ring?
Hal’s ring doesn’t stay buried for long. Despite assuring Guy that he wouldn’t do anything "like that," John ends up doing something exactly like that. After the funeral and after dark, he digs up Hal’s grave to retrieve the ring from his corpse.
Not only is it pretty grim, but John ends up blowing an architecture deal he had been working on with his brother for years (yes, he’s an architect now) in favour of a spot of grave-robbing.
But don’t worry — John doesn’t recite the Oath. Instead, he puts on the ring and summons Hal’s sentry protocol, which, in case you’ve forgotten, is essentially a hologram of Hal’s consciousness inside the ring.
It’s meant to be updated periodically, but Hal being Hal doesn’t do that, so the version of him that exists is considerably less grizzled. Needless to say, he isn’t happy with the circumstances. Whether or not he holds the answers, however, remains to be seen.
