DC’s new Green Lantern has debuted in a 2026 release, and it happened before audiences were expecting new versions of the DC hero to appear in HBO’s Lanterns. James Gunn’s DC Universe is treating the Green Lantern corner of DC well after the old DCEU movie franchise barely tapped into the concept. That absence was in large part due to the failure of 2011’s Green Lantern.
In the DCU, Nathan Fillion, who has famously voiced Hal Jordan in multiple DC animated projects, debuted as the Guy Gardner version of Green Lantern in 2025’s Superman. Guy was just as arrogant and funny as he is in the comics. This version of Green Lantern was also set up to play a major role in the DCU, as Guy joined Hawkgirl and Mister Terrific in the Justice Gang.
After Fillion’s debut as Guy Gardner, HBO’s upcoming Lanterns series, which debuts on August 16, will bring back the character, who has already shown up in John Cena’s Peacemaker season 2. That said, Guy will not lead Lanterns, with two new Green Lanterns, Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart, making their first appearance in the DCU in the 2026 HBO series.
While HBO’s Lanterns was expected to be the next DC project to introduce new versions of Green Lantern, another 2026 release has beaten it to it. That would be the animated My Adventures with Superman season 3, which is airing new episodes weekly. The show, which exists in its own universe outside the DCU canon, went for a surprising Green Lantern.
My Adventures With Superman Season 3 Sets Up A New Green Lantern Series
While the DCU is using three different human Green Lanterns so far, all of them are men: Guy Gardner, Hal Jordan, and John Stewart. My Adventures with Superman season 3, episode 2, “Mobile Suit Toyman,” saw the debut of Jessica Cruz, who is the first female human Green Lantern in DC Comics. Moana actress Auliʻi Cravalho appeared in a cameo role as a teenage version of Jessica in the Superman series. Right now, the DC character does not have any powers, with Jessica’s role being contained to her becoming a Supergirl fan and being amazed at the hero’s strength.

My Adventures With Superman Season 3 Review: Superboy’s Debut Completely Changes Everything
My Adventures with Superman season 3 adapts some of DC Comics’ best arcs, with Superboy’s debut, Cyborg Superman, and more changing everything.
While Jessica Cruz only appears briefly in My Adventures with Superman season 3, the Superman series was never made to be the big stage for the character. Instead, the 2026 release is merely setting up DC’s new Green Lantern series — the already announced My Adventures with Green Lantern — which will have Jessica as its main character. According to an official synopsis, the young Jessica will come into contact with a Green Lantern Corps ring after a space war, and by using the strength she got from Supergirl, she can rise as the Green Lantern of Earth as alien threats arrive.
HBO’s Lanterns Will Cement 2026 As Green Lantern’s Year
Green Lantern has been cast aside in terms of DC adaptations for more than a decade, which means that the huge number of different versions of the character appearing in 2026 easily makes this year the best for Green Lantern in a long time. While Jessica Cruz’s animated debut is exciting, and it sets up a great future for her in Jessica’s solo Green Lantern series, it is through HBO’s live-action Lanterns series, which is canon to Gunn’s DCU, that DC fans will get the biggest exploration of the Green Lantern mythos in adaptations in a long time.
Aside from the debut of live-action versions of Hal Jordan and John Stewart, DC’s two biggest Green Lanterns, HBO’s Lanterns will also include several other characters and elements from the hero’s DC corner, like its biggest villain, the Yellow Lantern Sinestro, and rumors that characters like Black Hand, who is crucial to DC Comics’ Blackest Night event, Atrocitus, the leader of the Red Lanterns, and more could appear. Based on all those factors, My Adventures with Superman starts a great year for DC’s Green Lantern, but Lanterns will be the main course in style.