DCU head James Gunn is quite active on social media, often responding to fans and online criticism. And in doing so on Monday, he perhaps went a bit too far and leaned into theories that Hal Jordan is not actually dead in Lanterns , despite sitting around with a bullet in his head and being buried underground in a coffin. Well, formerly buried.

Gunn responded to a fan saying that the show “disrespected” Hal by killing him off in Lanterns , saying the following:

“Hal’s the star of TV series & he’s in all the episodes so far. It’s more live action screen time than all the live action screen time he’s had combined throughout history. Kyle is amazing in the role. We more than respect him. We love him, despite his imperfections. Us knowing the time of his death, if that’s exactly what that is, is absolutely not the same thing as killing him off right away. Hal is a big reason why the show is so popular with fans & non fans alike; sorry if you don’t like it.”

  • “Hal’s the star of the TV series,” which I would say indicates that he will remain important to the series going forward, given that Lanterns is meant to run for multiple seasons. He says Kyle is amazing in the role, and the entire fandom seems to agree, even the show’s critics.
  • “If that’s exactly what that is,” which I would say is Gunn’s strong hint that everything is not how it seems, and it would be weird to say that if the answer here was “no it’s actually how it looks, he is very dead.”
  • “He is a big reason why the show is so popular,” which I would say, again, is an indication that should the show move forward (and it almost certainly will, given its huge viewership), he and everyone else would want Kyle and Hal to return. And not just as a “Halogram.”

There are a number of theories about as to how Hal is not actually dead, the most popular one being that the dead one is a clone. We see the mark on Hal’s arm that is meant to “regrow” tissue when healing via manhunter tech, as we saw with John. Also, at one point, I believe the show’s subtitles said “Clone Hal” was speaking. So, indications are this may be the answer.

I do not think Lanterns or the DCU continues on without Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan. He’s one of the best-cast characters in the entire universe so far, and pretty much the lynchpin of why Lanterns works as a show. No offense to Aaron Pierre, who is also good, but I mean, Hal is the standout. He’ll be back, as Gunn seems to heavily indicate.

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