Lanterns Episode 8 Trailer: Sinestro's Yellow Lantern, the Manhunter Theory, and Who Shot Hal Jordan

Published 28 September 2026. Words like "tonight" or "next week" refer to that date.

The final Lanterns trailer suggests that Sinestro may be preparing a yellow lantern for John Stewart, and I think it also hints that Carrie was the one who shot Hal Jordan. This is the last preview we get before the finale, and there is a lot to go through.

I also want to share my theories for the finale, because I think there are some major things this trailer does not cover that could be coming in the episode.

The Lanterns finale aired October 4th, and HBO kept the trailer under wraps

The season finale aired October 4th and was rumoured to be titled Dirt and Stars. I have no idea what HBO was doing with the release of this trailer, and I did wonder if they were keeping it under lock and key. Normally it gets posted online immediately after the episode airs, but this time things were locked down, and I had to grab it from a Spanish website.

The teaser opens in the aftermath of episode 7, with Sinestro's interrogation. In it, he says: "The Lantern Corps thinks that fear makes you weak. They couldn't be more wrong. Fear can be the most powerful force in the universe."

Sinestro's tower could be where he builds a yellow lantern for John Stewart

We then cut to the tower, which, as I pointed out previously, looks like a power battery. Because of this, I think this is the location where Sinestro could be building a yellow lantern. We know that John's ring is down to a 5 percent charge, so I think Sinestro is going to offer him this lantern as a way to power himself up.

John is going to need that power because he is going to have to go face to face with the Manhunter, and going against a Manhunter is not an easy task. That is why I think he will be offered the chance to charge the ring using Sinestro's lantern. Sinestro tells him that maybe he won't have to have died in vain, and adds: "I know a way."

I think the way is fear. I believe Sinestro will offer John this ability, but in order to take it, he has to give in to his fear. In doing so, John will have become a yellow lantern, and Sinestro will finally have recruited him. Going back to episode 2, Sinestro clearly had his eyes on John, and I think this has been his endgame all along.

Noah could be revealed as the Manhunter

I think the Manhunter will be revealed as Noah. Yes, those Noah fan theories could be coming true. I will admit it started off as a joke, but it looks like it might be right. Noah is someone who has basically been kept in the background, but we know he has his eyes on the presidency.

So I think it will be revealed that he is the one who freed Sinestro, and potentially the one who brought Hal back as well, which I will get to later in this piece.

John confronts Carrie at the football match

Speaking of endgames, we then cut to a football match with Carrie and John. They are clearly watching the game that Noah was talking about in episode 7, and it mirrors her standing off to the side watching his speech there. Carrie looks absolutely terrified here.

This happens later in the episode, after the conversation with Sinestro that ended things last week. So this is clearly in the aftermath of John learning something that he has now gone to confront her with. Personally, I believe he has learned that Noah is the Manhunter, and this is him going to talk to her about it.

Guy Gardner arrives, and a yellow lantern appears at John's feet

We then cut to Guy Gardner. Later in the teaser, we see him lower down near the ground, having been called by John with the signal. And what is that at John's feet? It looks like someone forgot to remove it in the CGI department, but that definitely looks like a lantern, and a yellow lantern by the looks of it.

So I think Guy will be confronting John not only about the Manhunter, but also potentially about him now embracing fear. Later, back on the planet with the hologram, John is carrying a bag, which again I think has the lantern inside it.

Carrie may have shot Hal Jordan

Jumping back to Carrie, we then cut across to Hal's corpse sitting in the stands. I think this deliberately ties these two things together, and we will possibly learn that Carrie killed Hal. In episode 7 she did seem a bit sketchy, and the hologram even said that she was the one who did it.

At the 21 second mark, we see her at the bleachers looking horrified, and I believe this may be right after she shot him. She walks over and puts her hand on the shoulder of Hal's corpse, and the blood there looks fresh. So it definitely seems like she was at the scene.

Hal's lab scene, the fire, and how he could come back

We then see Hal lying on the floor of what looks like a lab, and there is something in his arm. Later in the teaser, we see him in what looks like his house as a fire starts up. That reminds me of what happened to John, who was burned alive in his car while Zoe watched on. So I do wonder if Noah attacked Hal's house and then took him and healed him, much like what Zoe did with John.

If you cast your mind back to episode 5, John got one of these in his arm as well, just after he was healed, so I definitely think the same process has happened here. In the midseason trailer, there was someone in this room with Hal, and people theorised that this was a clone of Hal. However, I think this might be Noah, telling him he has to keep his secret.

Unfortunately for Hal, I don't think he will want to do that, and he will instead want to go to the Guardians. That will be why Carrie potentially kills him, and she could do it as a way to protect her son. Because of that, I also wonder if there is a way to bring Hal back. His death has loomed large over everything and has been quite a big point of controversy in the fandom, but this could show there is a way to bring him back, potentially using the Manhunter tech to heal him. I also think they could transfer Hal's consciousness from the ring to his corpse and rebuild him with that as his mind.

"Are you afraid?" and what could be John's first flight

The music in the trailer then builds to a crescendo, with the words "Are you afraid?" said over and over. This question is central to the season and has been delivered throughout all eight episodes, whether it is the apple on the head or something asked before a big fight goes down. Characters just keep saying it. Here, it being a clear instruction to John sounds like some actual guidance for once.

We then cut to John looking to the sky. Because of the green glow across his face, I think this is either from the ring or potentially from the signal. It could come right after he has spoken to Guy, and I think this might actually be the character's first flight. That is what some fans have been speculating, and it could be him taking to the air for the very first time.

I am also wondering if this is Guy taking John to Oa and asking him to fly along. If our theories are all right, John is now a lantern, and he could be going to meet the Guardians and explain the whole yellow thing. I do wonder if he will work for them or become a peacekeeper in his own right. If he is using the yellow lantern, I can see how that might cause issues and put him at odds with the group, especially because he basically stole the ring from Hal's corpse.

What the teaser leaves out, and why John may let Carrie go

I think the teaser leaves a lot out, so there is still plenty of mystery for the episode. It does not really confirm anything about that thing on the ground, and a lot of this is just my theories. But that yellow lantern? "I might put the house on that." Beyond that, we don't see whether Hal is resurrected, cloned, or gone forever, and the trailer does not say who the Manhunter is or who shot Hal. Still, the scenes with Carrie make me think she was behind the trigger.

I am wondering how they will handle it. I actually think John may let them go free, because he will understand it was just a mother protecting her child. That is something he has seen firsthand with his own mother, in her own twisted way. From her point of view, she was protecting her son by training him to be fearless, even if dropping him off in dangerous neighbourhoods was not the way to do it. He could see Carrie as doing the same thing, and that may be why he at least understands her.

Do you think Carrie shot Hal Jordan, and will John Stewart really embrace Sinestro's yellow lantern in the finale?