Upcoming · HBO
Lanterns plays as a slow-burn crime procedural first, superhero story second. The investigation is grounded in the American heartland, a murder in small-town territory that unfolds case-file by case-file rather than through spectacle. The science fiction elements are present but they press in from underneath, complicating a whodunit that otherwise has the patience and texture of a carefully constructed crime drama.
Hal Jordan is the seasoned veteran who knows how this work gets done; John Stewart is the new recruit still finding his footing. Their professional friction is the engine of most scenes, two people who have to trust each other's instincts before they actually do. That dynamic keeps the investigation taut even when the pacing is deliberately unhurried, and the alien dimension of the case raises the stakes without pulling the story away from its grounded, geographic specificity.
small-town whodunit, buddy-cop friction and Mystery
Mystery and Action
Season 1 · 1 episodes
HBO
Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
Start with the closest match, then check out two more shows with a similar feel, pace, mood, or theme.
A National Parks Service agent investigates a brutal death at Yosemite National Park.
Untamed keeps the same small-town whodunit tension as Lanterns, with a brutal death that turns into a methodical, pressure-filled investigation. Boss-employee friction and wilderness isolation add a different kind of danger, while the case pacing stays steady and grounded.
Mickey Fox investigates criminal activity and patrols the streets of small-town Edgewater while contending with her ex-con father and a mysterious incident involving her wayward daughter.
Sheriff Country delivers the same small-town crime pressure you get in Lanterns, where the work and the personal mess collide in every episode. Family trouble and law-enforcement duties run side by side, so secrets feel close and heavy, with a more domestic, emotionally tangled pace than the superhero layer.
Dead Simple, opens with Grace running inquiries into long forgotten cold cases with little or no prospect of success. He's fixated by the disappearance of his wife, Sandy, which haunts his thoughts. His unorthodox police methods have come under scrutiny once again, and Grace is walking a career tightrope and risks being moved from the job he loves most. With so much at stake, his colleague Detective Sergeant Glenn Branson knows he has more to give and asks him for help with a case. When a stag night prank appears to go wrong and the groom goes missing, Branson calls on Grace to unravel events that led to the mysterious disappearance of a successful property developer with everything to live for. Is this a case of stag night shenanigans gone wrong or something more sinister?
Grace keeps the same slow-burn, small-town crime focus as Lanterns, with a case that tightens through quiet interviews and mounting personal pressure. A detective’s obsession with his missing wife colors every lead, turning the investigation into a tense, methodical grind that feels grounded even when the mystery keeps widening.
