The news that one iconic HBO show will soon return means that DC’s Lanterns is set to gain a fitting replacement. The DC Universe started strong with Creature Commandos and Peacemaker, but 2026’s Lanterns was still a major testing ground for the franchise. Billed as a blend between superhero drama and a dark HBO murder mystery thriller, Lanterns had a lot of potential, but also sounded at risk of running into numerous tonal roadblocks.
For one thing, the show was, at the end of the day, a Green Lantern series, so promises that it would emulate the likes of The Killing and Mare of Easttown sounded tough to achieve. Mixing superhero action with grounded detective work is a big ask for any show, especially when many of the greatest TV murder mysteries ever like ABC’s Twin Peaks already had offbeat, surreal elements of their own.
Fortunately, most critics agreed that managed this tricky blend, with season 1 of the show earning largely positive reviews. Most critics noted that the buddy cop chemistry between Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart and Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan called to mind classics of the genre, while the show’s balance between superhero elements and traditional cop show tropes was surprisingly effective. Now, Lanterns fans need a replacement, and the show’s biggest influence, HBO’s iconic True Detective, is on hand to provide.
True Detective Season 5 Will Replace DC’s Lanterns
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While Lanterns drew comparisons to shows like The Killing and Mare of Easttown, 2014’s True Detective season 1 was the show’s most obvious influence and the one most often acknowledged by critics and its own creators alike. Starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as Rust Cohle and Marty Hart, a pair of Southern detectives with only a gruesome murder case in common, True Detective season 1 blended character drama with horror-tinged thrills as the pair investigated an increasingly murky conspiracy ring.
Many viewers and reviewers who liked Lanterns noted that, at its best, the DC show felt like True Detective. As such, the news that the actual True Detective is coming back for a fifth season couldn’t come at a better time. Reportedly set in Jamaica Bay, New York, True Detective season 5 continues the franchise’s tradition of casting major stars with Antonio Banderas and Nicolas Cage playing the lead characters this time around.
After the historic ratings, awards, and critical success of True Detective season 1, expectations were almost impossibly high for the show’s sophomore outing. Even with this taken into account, 2015’s season 2 was infamously messy, squandering a starry lineup that included Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, and Taylor Kitsch in a confusing, dull story that went nowhere slowly.
Lanterns Proves No Show Can Truly Replicate True Detective’s Original Appeal
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Even though 2019’s season 3 was a major improvement, True Detective never regained its season 1 acclaim. As shows like HBO’s Sharp Objects and Netflix’s His & Hers borrowed from season 1’s sweaty Southern Gothic atmosphere and became critical hits in their own right, 2024’s season 4 invested in stars like Kali Reis and Jodie Foster, but still couldn’t replicate the one-off success of the show’s first outing.
The longer it has been since season 1, the more it becomes clear that True Detective had something special that hasn’t been recaptured by its many follow-ups. However, Lanterns also proved that few of the show’s imitators have matched True Detective season 1 either. While the Rotten Tomatoes critical ratings of both shows are equal, online commentary proves that few reviewers would claim Lanterns is actually the equal of True Detective season 1.
True Detective season 1’s unique appeal has not even been successfully replicated by the show’s own later seasons, meaning it was unlikely that the DC hit would ever manage this. However, now that DC’s Lanterns season 1 is over, the timing couldn’t be better for True Detective season 5’s arrival.
True Detective
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