In adapting the story of John Stewart, DC's Green Lantern, HBO's 'Lanterns' has chosen to make visible what superhero mythology so often leaves unspoken — that the demand to be fearless is not equally distributed across human experience. Created by Damon Lindelof, the series reframes an alien ring's ancient selection criteria through the lived reality of Black Americans, drawing both fierce criticism and passionate defense. The debate it has ignited is older than the show itself, reaching back to the 1970s comics that first gave Stewart life as a civil rights advocate, and forward into unresol
HBO's 'Lanterns' Reframes Green Lantern Origin Through Racial Politics, Drawing 'Woke' Criticism
That's who John Stewart's always been
Mark
So what's actually different about how "Lanterns" tells John Stewart's story compared to the comics?
Mimi
The core change is how the ring selects him. In the comics, he's chosen as an adult because he has the innate ability to overcome fear. In the show, his parents condition him from childhood to achieve the precision and control needed to wield it. And the show makes explicit what the comics only implied—that asking a Black man in America to be fearless is fundamentally different from asking anyone else.
Luke
But wait—is that actually a departure, or is the show just making visible what was always there? The source material says John Stewart debuted in 1971 as a civil rights advocate who challenged authorities. That's not a new invention.
Mimi
Right. The show's writers point out that the original 1970s comics had Stewart using confrontational language and opposing wars. So in a way, the show is returning to that political dimension rather than inventing it.
Mark
Then why are people calling it "woke"?
Mimi
Because the show puts that politics directly into dialogue. It has characters explicitly discussing racial privilege and systemic inequality rather than letting it sit beneath the surface. Some viewers experience that as heavy-handed.
Luke
The critic Christian Toto says the dialogue feels "inauthentic to the time period." But which time period? The show is set in the present, not the 1970s. So what's the actual complaint there?
Mimi
I think Toto's saying the dialogue feels like it's written for a contemporary political argument rather than for the characters and their world. Whether that's fair depends on whether you think the show's themes belong in the story at all.
Mark
And the ratings are strong, even with the pushback?
Luke
That's what the reporting says. Toto himself notes that audiences seem willing to engage with the superhero material despite disagreeing with the creative choices. But we don't have numbers on how many people are actually bothered versus how many are fine with it.
Mimi
The fact that both supporters and critics are talking about it suggests the show succeeded at making people think about what the story is doing. Whether that's a success depends on what you wanted from a Green Lantern adaptation.
Mark
So it's not settled.
Mimi
Not at all. And probably won't be.
Le Pouls
- The show's third episode places a Black mother in direct confrontation with cosmic authority, asking whether a universe that demands fearlessness has ever reckoned with what fear means for a Black man in America.
- Critics, including entertainment commentator Christian Toto, argue the dialogue is heavy-handed and that the series trades individual willpower — the soul of the Green Lantern mythology — for a lecture on racial privilege.
- Defenders of the show, including filmmaker Steven DeKnight and co-executive producer Vanessa Baden Kelly, counter that John Stewart was always a politically confrontational character, pointing to his 1970s origins as a civil rights advocate in O'Neil and Adams' landmark run.
- Actor J. Alphonse Nicholson has deepened the conversation further, connecting the show's central question — who has the privilege to move through life without fear — to present-day political realities.
- Despite the polarized reception, 'Lanterns' continues to draw strong ratings, suggesting that audiences are engaging with the material even when they resist its conclusions.
In adapting the story of John Stewart, DC's Green Lantern, HBO's 'Lanterns' has chosen to make visible what superhero mythology so often leaves unspoken — that the demand to be fearless is not equally distributed across human experience. Created by Damon Lindelof, the series reframes an alien ring's ancient selection criteria through the lived reality of Black Americans, drawing both fierce criticism and passionate defense. The debate it has ignited is older than the show itself, reaching back to the 1970s comics that first gave Stewart life as a civil rights advocate, and forward into unresolved questions about who gets to define heroism and on whose terms.
HBO's 'Lanterns,' created by Damon Lindelof, has divided audiences by recontextualizing the Green Lantern origin story through the lens of race in America. The series follows John Stewart, a character who first appeared in DC Comics in 1971, and departs from the traditional narrative in which an alien power ring selects adults capable of overcoming fear on their own terms. In the show, Stewart is conditioned from infancy by his parents to achieve the precision the ring demands — a change that reflects, the series argues, the particular burden placed on Black Americans to master themselves in a world that already fears them.
The departure has generated sharp criticism. Entertainment commentator Christian Toto described the show's dialogue as 'on-the-nose,' arguing that explicit culture war commentary pulls viewers out of the story rather than drawing them deeper in. Some have accused the series of subordinating the hero's individual willpower to a broader lesson about racial privilege.
But defenders of the show have pushed back with historical evidence. Filmmaker Steven DeKnight and writer-producer Vanessa Baden Kelly both pointed to the original 1970s Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics by O'Neil and Adams, in which Stewart was already portrayed as a confrontational civil rights advocate challenging authority in Detroit. 'That's who John Stewart's always been,' Baden Kelly noted.
J. Alphonse Nicholson, who plays Stewart's father, has spoken about what it means to ask a Black man to be fearless within systems of structural inequality — and has connected the show's themes to contemporary political questions about trust and representation.
The series has sustained strong ratings throughout the debate, suggesting that the conversation it has ignited, however contested, is one audiences feel compelled to have.
HBO's new superhero series "Lanterns" has split its audience over how it handles the origin story of John Stewart, the Green Lantern character who first appeared in DC Comics in 1971. The show, created by Damon Lindelof, takes the traditional superhero framework—an alien power ring that selects individuals capable of overcoming fear—and recontextualizes it through the lived experience of a Black man in America.
In the show's third episode, titled "OutKast," Stewart's mother Bernadette confronts an alien Guardian of the Universe about the fundamental unfairness embedded in the ring's selection criteria. She asks the Guardian, who has taken the form of an older white woman, whether they understand the racial dynamics at play on Earth. "Do you know the differences in race on Earth?" she says. "Do you understand how unfair it is to ask a Black man in America if he's afraid?" She goes further, describing the daily terror of persecution that Black Americans navigate, and notes that even in space, the Guardians fail to account for this reality. Rather than being chosen as an adult for his natural ability to overcome fear—the traditional comic book narrative—Stewart in "Lanterns" is conditioned by his parents from infancy to achieve the precision and control necessary to wield the ring.
This departure from source material has drawn sharp criticism from viewers and commentators who argue the show prioritizes contemporary social commentary over fidelity to the original character. Some have accused the series of replacing the hero's traditional emphasis on individual willpower with a lesson about racial privilege. Entertainment critic Christian Toto told Fox News Digital that the show exemplifies a broader Hollywood trend of injecting modern culture war arguments into established stories in ways that feel disconnected from the material itself. He described the dialogue as "on-the-nose," arguing it pulls viewers out of the narrative. Despite this criticism, Toto acknowledged that "Lanterns" has maintained strong ratings, suggesting audiences remain engaged with the superhero material even when they disagree with the creative choices.
Not all responses have been negative. Filmmaker and comic book writer Steven DeKnight, who worked on "Daredevil," defended the show's approach on social media, pointing out that critics who claim the show has gone "woke" may not be familiar with the character's actual comic book history. He referenced the 1970s Green Lantern/Green Arrow run by O'Neil and Adams, in which Stewart was portrayed as a civil rights advocate who challenged authorities in Detroit. Vanessa Baden Kelly, a writer and co-executive producer on "Lanterns," made a similar point in an interview with TheWrap, noting that she had encountered panels from the original 1970s comics showing Stewart using confrontational language and opposing wars. "That's right, just keep it in the front of your mind—that this is who John Stewart's always been," she said.
J. Alphonse Nicholson, who plays Stewart's father in flashbacks, has spoken about the show's exploration of racial dynamics and what it means to ask a Black man to be fearless in a world structured by systemic inequality. He told TheWrap that the writing room's decision to center these questions "raises a lot of questions on who has the privilege to move through life without thinking about those things, even in the fictional world." Nicholson has also connected the show's themes to broader political questions, linking the portrayal of heroism to the 2024 presidential election and arguing that the country is experiencing consequences related to questions of trust and representation.
The show's reception reflects a larger conversation about how superhero stories should handle their source material and what role contemporary social and political concerns should play in adaptation. "Lanterns" has chosen to make that conversation explicit rather than implicit, embedding it directly into the dialogue and character development. Whether that choice enhances or detracts from the storytelling remains contested, but the series has managed to sustain viewer interest while generating the kind of active debate that suggests the material is landing with audiences in some form.
Citations marquantes
Do you understand how unfair it is to ask a Black man in America if he's afraid?— Bernadette Stewart, John Stewart's mother, to an alien Guardian in the show
That's right, just keep it in the front of your mind—that this is who John Stewart's always been— Vanessa Baden Kelly, writer and co-executive producer, responding to "woke" accusations by referencing the character's 1970s civil rights roots
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