HBO’s Lanterns is bringing a new take on the Green Lantern mythology to the DCU, with the series taking a notably grounded approach to the superhero story. Starring Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, the series follows the two Lanterns as they investigate a mysterious m***** in a small town, blending cosmic mythology with the feel of a terrestrial crime thriller.

But while the story takes place in the fictional Rushville, Nebraska, bringing that isolated world to life required the production team to find locations capable of selling its distinctive Midwestern atmosphere.

Lanterns was filmed primarily across Los Angeles County, California, after the production moved away from its initially planned Atlanta location. Principal photography reportedly began in February 2025 under the working title Latitude and continued until July.

One of the production's most important locations was Piru, California, a small historic town in Ventura County that was transformed into fictional Rushville, Nebraska. The production redressed storefronts and businesses around Center Street and other parts of the town to create the look of the show's Midwestern setting, with several scenes filmed throughout the area. The series also used Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where the production constructed the Stewart family home on Stage 19. The studio provided additional controlled environments for the series, complementing the real-world locations used to establish Rushville.

Interestingly, making California look like Nebraska was not as simple as dressing up a few storefronts. Piru's surrounding landscape includes mountains that do not fit the show's intended Midwestern setting, so visual effects were reportedly used to remove them and create a more convincing Nebraska horizon. That attention to detail helped Lanterns establish the isolated, grounded atmosphere at the heart of its story.

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And that grounded visual identity may be one reason the series has already started attracting comparisons to a very different kind of television mystery.

It has taken just one episode for Lanterns to make its mark, with the DCU series already earning an impressive 8.0/10 rating on IMDb from nearly 10,000 voters. The early response has also led to comparisons with True Detective Season 1, particularly because Lanterns approaches its superhero mythology through a dark, grounded m***** mystery. Rather than immediately leaning into the cosmic side of the Green Lantern story, the series puts its two leads into an investigation involving small-town law enforcement, isolated landscapes and a mystery that appears to be much larger than it initially seems.

That approach makes the show's setting particularly important, with the quiet streets and rural surroundings helping create the bleak, atmospheric feel that viewers have responded to so strongly. The series has eight episodes in total, with new installments arriving weekly from August 16 through October 4, giving Lanterns plenty of time to build on the momentum of its opening chapter.

The early response has translated into a dream debut for Lanterns, with the series premiere drawing 9.3 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max in its first three days of availability, including 6.6 million viewers in the U.S. during that period. That makes it the biggest premiere for a DC Studios series on HBO Max to date and one of the platform’s five biggest premieres overall. With that kind of opening, the DCU may have found a surprisingly effective way to make one of its most cosmic heroes feel grounded on Earth.

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With Lanterns already earning True Detective comparisons after just one episode, do you think DC has finally found the grounded Green Lantern story fans have been waiting for? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!