'Lanterns' Teaser Has Nerds Being Nerd-Mad About Nerd Things

After getting some disappointing news about its release date back in November, Lanterns finally stepped up to the plate with an official teaser. Fans were so eager to devour the first footage that it leaked on Reddit a day early, prompting HBO to throw up its hands and drop the teaser on YouTube where it’s already racked up 1.6 million views.

I’m not going to be coy, this thing had me before I even clicked play. Damon Lindelof delivering Green Lantern by way of True Detective? Sold! That said, I knew those vibes going in. This was going to be more Watchmen than Superman, and this teaser definitely drove that home. What I did not expect was Kyle Chandler having an absolute blast. He is a cocky sonofab*tch from start to finish, and it is fantastic. I want what Lanterns is selling.

The nerds on the other hand? Well…

One of the biggest and admittedly legitimate concerns is that this show is pulling a Surf Dracula. If you don’t know what that means, allow me to quote the holy text:

back in the day if u did a tv show called surf dracula you’d see that fool surfing every week in new adventures but in the streaming era the entire 1st season gotta be a long ass flashback to how he got the surfboard until you finally get to see him surf for 5 min in the finale

In short, there is a very real possibility that we’ll never see Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’s pitch-perfect John Stewart actually suit up as Green Lanterns until the finale. Personally, I don’t think that’s going to be the case. This first teaser — heavy emphasis on tease — is playing things very close to the chest and almost definitely doing everything possible to avoid comparisons to the infamous 2011 Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds. There’s nary a drop of CGI and very little glowing green, which leads us to the next big gripe: Hal Jordan’s suit.

Nerds are big mad about this one. Because I’m a giant dork myself, my algorithm is sloppy with online whining that society used to rightly sequester to basements and tiny stores cramped with long boxes. Trust me when I say there is a whole lot of complaining about what appears to be the suit for Chandler’s character below:

What’s the major issue? Two things: One, it’s hanging in a closet instead of popping out of a super ring. (Don’t ask.) Two, in fairness, the name of the character is Green Lantern not Turdlight. The whole thing does skew a little brown, and I get that gripe. I don’t think it’s a huge deal, but I get it.

Using Hal’s Earth One look as an inspiration is a slight gamble, but I trust this creative team. The Watchmen series fully embraced its comic roots, and I’d put money on Lanterns having some surprises up its sleeve.

You can watch the official teaser below: