Aaron Pierre as John Stewart in Lanterns
Photograph by John Johnson/HBO Max
Major spoilers ahead for Lanterns episode 5
John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) becomes his own man in Lanterns episode 5, “Lights Out,” and in doing so puts himself on the path to being Earth’s hero on his terms and in his own time.
Up until this point, John had played the part of the good soldier. He did what he was told even when it took from him. That’s how John Sr. (J. Alphonse Nicholson) and Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones) Stewart raised their son. They weren’t rearing a child, they were shaping who they believed would be an undeniable asset to the Guardians of the Universe.
John couldn’t be a person, he had to be an idea. A fearless man equipped with the restraint, intelligence, bravery, and cunning necessary to be seen as the perfect enforcer of the Guardian’s will and protector of his planet. However, his killing of Zoe the Manhunter (Poorna Jagannathan) and taking of Hal Jordan’s (Kyle Chandler) ring result in a moment of clarity.
The culmination of all that he’s worked for since he was five years old doesn’t bring John a sense of accomplishment or triumph. It leaves him empty and this emptiness leads him to walk away from what he spent his whole life trying to achieve, which ultimately frees John up to make the choice to become a hero rather than being told he has to be.
Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe Macon in Lanterns.
Photograph by John Johnson/HBO Max
How Zoe Dies in ‘Lanterns’
John’s first investigation as a recruit was steeped in lies. He and Hal were in Rushville, Nebraska not to protect human life but to clean up the Guardians’ mess. They created Manhunters. Zoe is their problem. In an effort to produce the perfect soldiers, they made beings capable of such violence that they could wipe out entire species.
Zoe admits that even if she wanted to spare a life she couldn’t because making the most logical choice is an intrinsic part of who she is. She cared for Abin Sur and she killed him to protect herself despite him going against orders and setting her free. Zoe allows her husband Macon (Garret Dillahunt), who she loves, to die in her stead so that he can distract Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor) long enough for her to escape.
Taking a page out of her playbook, John kills Zoe by making the most logical moves. She expected him to act with emotion. The Manhunter played on the attraction between them, his will to live, and his desire for Hal’s ring. What she didn’t account for is John putting his mission above everything and the mission wasn’t to get the ring, it was to stop her.
After Zoe uses her tech to heal John of the full body burns he sustained while trapped in the car Hal crashed, he grabs a sniper rifle and then launches an attack on Hal in his motel room. Their fight, while brutal, is meant to draw her in. He leaves his mentor as bait, waits until Zoe comes to kill Hal, and then shoots her in the head before he cuts her heart out.
It crystalizes in his hand, proving she’s the Manhunter. With Hal stuck under rubble and banged up from their fight, John takes the ring off his mentor’s finger and slips it on his own. He meets the guardian Lianna (Laura Linney) in the town’s bar and hands her the backpack where he’s stored Zoe’s heart. He refers to it as the Guardians’ “sins and consequences.”
Laura Linney as Lianna and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart in Lanterns
Photograph by John Johnson/HBO Max
Why John Doesn’t Become Green Lantern in ‘Lanterns’ Episode 5
Lianna concedes that the Manhunters were their mistake. But John’s exchange with her takes a turn that she didn’t expect because he confesses to feeling empty now that he has the ring. It doesn’t matter that she thinks it looks good on him or that there’s a sense of pride emanating from her. To John, getting to this point has a surprising lack of meaning for him. All it’s done is made him question everything.
He questions why he wants the ring and why he believes he deserves it. He wonders over the person he had to become to get it, and who Hal turned into in order to keep it. In the end, he doesn’t become the Green Lantern; he chooses to remain John Stewart and rejects the power he was raised to believe he needed in order to be considered worthy.
John does this because he’s not motivated by power, he’s motivated by truth and the truth is he doesn’t have to be Earth’s hero. It’s not his fate, it’s not his destiny, it’s his decision and he’s choosing to say no. Framing the ring as a choice allows John to reclaim his autonomy and it breaks the power that the Guardians and his parents have over him.
Now, if he were to become a Green Lantern, he’d be doing so for his own reasons and no one else’s. The distinction between a hero who chooses to be one rather than a hero who is chosen lies in more than agency. It lies in understanding not only the gravity of the decision but also in what accepting the responsibility means for the hero, for the people he protects, and why he does it.
John has the ability to take or leave the power on offer to him. He is not defined by it and therefore it cannot be used against him nor can the power within himself be taken. That’s what sets John Stewart apart in Lanterns’ universe and makes him the best person to be Earth’s Green Lantern.
Lanterns streams Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max. Follow Sabrina Reed on Forbes for coverage of the series and news about the business of TV. For deeper thoughts on the TV she’s watching, chat with Sabrina on X and Substack.
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