Nathan Fillion is finally on screen in Lanterns. After five episodes in which Guy Gardner existed only as a name and a face on a placard, the actor appears in episode 6, “Bad Optics,” now streaming on HBO Max. Fillion tells Variety he spent those weeks convincing friends he really was in the show, joking that he was glad HBO at least used his face on the placard.
Heads up if you are not caught up: the episode shifts the series. Guy answers the distress signal from Rushville and visits John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) in jail, and by the end of the hour John has set the ring aside for good, leaving Guy as the new Green Lantern of the show’s 2026 timeline. Fillion says he likes that Guy is “becoming a thread in the backdrop” while the wider DC Universe builds itself out.
Lanterns premiered on August 16 and follows new recruit John Stewart and veteran Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) as they work a murder mystery in the American heartland. New episodes arrive Sundays on HBO and HBO Max, and you can read our take in the Lanterns review.