The most obvious pick is Guy Gardner. Not only does Guy have a history with John, but he also has a bone to pick with Earth’s unofficial GL. Still, it would be nice to see John forced to pair with another GL, possibly someone younger. Kyle Rayner is the most popular GL to not yet appear, and John has mentored him in the comics. But it might also be nice to see Lanterns get weird and to bring in some female GLs (something Hal memorably predicted in his eulogy). Jessica Cruz is always welcome, but it would be interesting to see John with Jo Mullein, especially if she gets something like the experimental ring she wields in the comics (and especially if they cast Janelle Monáe, whose look inspired Jo’s original design).
Sinestro
Despite much speculation, Lanterns did not end with Sinestro getting a yellow ring and forming the Sinestro Corps. But the series didn’t rule that out, either. The finale ends with Sinestro stranded on a planet that makes people afraid, where he was just talking about the power of fear, and where he forged a lantern that operates in part on fear. Time to just pull the trigger and let Sinestro be Sinestro, you cowards.
Okay, even if the Lanterns braintrust doesn’t want to make Green Lantern all about Corps of various colors, like the comics have become, season two has to at least give us more Sinestro in some form. Ulrich Thomsen had such a creepy, charismatic take on the character that he controlled the screen every time he showed up. We don’t care if he’s commanding an army or just behind bars again, we’ll take as much of the renegade Green Lantern as we can get!
More Villains
Beyond Sinestro, season 1 gave us variations of classic GL villains the Manhunters and Hector Hammond, which means that season 2 can go even deeper into the rogues gallery. Many online believed that Will Macon would turn out to be William Hand a.k.a. the Black Hand, but that fake out leaves room for a proper version to appear on screen, either as “the cliché criminal” from the Silver Age or the current zombie version with a Black Lantern Ring. It would be fun to see a second season go for some real weirdos like Shark or Sonar, especially if the latter can further flesh out the new DCU.
But the most obvious pick would be someone connected to the Guardians, if not a Guardian themselves. A second season could go deeper into Lantern lore to bring in Volthoom, the First Lantern, which would satisfy those who want more color Corps. Or they could just give us a mad Guardian like Old Timer, if not Krona, the guy who introduced evil into the world in the first place.
A Few More Planets
Look, we all liked Lanterns, and we’re sure Nebraska is a wonderful state. But we’d be lying if we said we wouldn’t have liked to see more outer space in a show about cops who work in outer space. Even if John has declared himself the terrestrial GL, you can’t keep dropping Mogo’s name without giving us at least a glimpse of Mogo.
