One-and-done: HBO cancels fan-favorite TV show days after James Gunn exit

Season 1 of Lanterns wrapped on October 4 with Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart patrolling Earth — but don’t look for a quick return flight. According to Variety, HBO hasn’t ordered a second season, and no one at the network or DC Studios has labeled the show canceled either. The timing is stark: the report landed a day after James Gunn and Peter Safran exited DC’s top jobs.

Variety also notes the crime‑ mystery take on the Green Lantern mythos drew “decent” viewership, but an insider says it isn’t quite catching the broader cultural wave. Co‑showrunner Chris Mundy previously pegged the odds of a renewal at “a coin flip.” It was the first live‑action TV series Gunn and Safran launched while running DC, which makes its status an early stress test of the handoff.

Jeremy Latcham starts December 1 as president and chief creative officer of DC Studios.

New boss, new calls

The shake‑up follows Paramount ’s $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery in October and a fast reshuffle of the org chart. Latcham — a former Marvel executive — inherits a slate packed with projects greenlit under the old regime, and renewals are now his call. For Lanterns, that means a wait while the new chief sorts what moves forward.

Peacemaker in limbo

Another Gunn creation, Peacemaker, is in the same holding pattern. There’s no Season 3 pickup and no cancellation, and HBO hasn’t announced any creative changes. Because Gunn created, wrote and largely directed the show, its future is even more entangled with DC’s leadership transition.

After the Season 2 finale in 2025 , Gunn said there wasn’t an immediate plan for a third season, hinting the story could spill into other DC Universe projects instead. Gunn and Safran are still on board as producers for select titles — including The People v. Gorilla Grodd and another season of Creature Commandos — but whether Peacemaker makes that short list hasn’t been specified.