Lanterns: The Official Podcast | Ep. 8 "Dirt and Stars" | Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, Tom King, Shea Pritchard, & Ulrich Thomsen

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

So, I want you all to know, before God and the best garlic bread in Western Nebraska, that Hal Jordan may have fucked up, and maybe he doesn't deserve your grace, but he deserves peace. We all do. And anyone who wants to threaten that peace should know. He's with me.

What?

Juju Green (0:50)

Hey, everybody. I'm Juju Green, and welcome back to Lanterns, The Official Podcast. Every week, we go deep on the episode, we bring in the people who made it, and we get to what the show is really about under the surface.

This is it. The season finale called Dirt and Stars was written by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King and directed by Alex Sakharov. This is a full-on spoiler conversation now. Every reveal, the whole ending, we're getting to all of the goodie goodies. So if you haven't seen it, go back, watch the episode, come back here, and we're going to talk about it, all of it.

SPEAKER_1 (1:22)

Listen, I'm trying to protect you here.

Shea Pritchard (1:24)

So now you're trying to protect me, once you're dead.

Juju Green (1:27)

John saws Howe's murder, and in doing so, finds a reason to take on the Green Lantern Mantle for the planet Earth. It's a deep episode that touches on themes of sacrifice, redemption, the power of choice. Ultimately, John chooses to be a hero for selfless reasons.

Now, joining us later, we're going to talk to the young man at the very center of this entire finale, Shea Pritchard, who plays the last manhunter, Noah Macon. But first, the three people who dream this whole thing up are here to close it out. Showrunner, executive producer, co-creator, and writer Chris Mundy, executive producer, co-creator, and writer Damon Lindelof, and executive producer, co-creator, and writer Tom King. Now, before we really get into it, guys, I thought this finale was emotionally resonant. I think it's really cool when a finale doesn't go super big on the big fights. It really just puts the characters in a great place, and it leaves a lot of ambiguity for hopefully future seasons or future appearances. It's time to go Cosmic with Green Lanterns. So we're going to get into it. Let's get started.

Made it. It is the finale, and I'm here chilling with the fellas who made it. Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy, and Tom King. Thank you so much for joining me on this final episode.

Shea Pritchard (2:38)

Made it.

Chris Mundy (2:38)

Made it to the end.

Damon Lindelof (2:39)

Oh my God. What a journey.

Shea Pritchard (2:41)

Thank you for doing this. They're still watching the podcast.

Juju Green (2:43)

It's for many podcasts.

Tom King (2:45)

You rock, man. Being here this whole time.

Juju Green (2:47)

Thanks, man. Listen, for a show such as this, it's a true honor. It's a privilege.

Damon Lindelof (2:52)

Got to see it through.

Juju Green (2:53)

Got to see it through. Got to see it through, my boy. I feel like this ring should actually create a construct for all of us.

Shea Pritchard (2:59)

I believe.

Damon Lindelof (3:00)

We just got to concentrate.

Juju Green (3:02)

This is a symbol of our friendship.

Shea Pritchard (3:03)

We'll see what we have left in the budget. Yeah.

SPEAKER_1 (3:07)

Here.

Damon Lindelof (3:08)

You manifest it.

Shea Pritchard (3:12)

What?

SPEAKER_1 (3:15)

We'll call it today's lesson.

Juju Green (3:16)

What was the choice in ending this season the way you did with John Stewart accepting the ring?

Chris Mundy (3:22)

We wanted the emotion to land, but really the end of the show in so many ways to us is that when how disappears. And so there were mysteries to solve, but there were also just like, we need to land that in a quiet moment that really is meaningful. We just spent eight hours to get these two guys to this understanding. So it was always kind of naturally quiet in a strange way. And the finale is really kind of like in three very distinct acts.

And stories, the Sinestro piece, and then the Noah piece, and then really John, and through the end. So it just naturally felt like, if we were talking about these two guys, that's the ending, and let's chase that. Right.

Damon Lindelof (4:07)

Yeah, and I think that in addition to everything that Chris just said is like, the show has always really been about John and Hal, but this idea of sort of Hal letting go, John accepting, et cetera, being sort of built into the emotional math of it all, that the promise of the pilot is who killed Hal, Jordan, and why?

And you need the answer to that question to somehow mean something to John. It can't be didactic like when you're doing a whodunit. And so I think that understanding that the finale was going to be in service of giving us that answer, but when you get that answer, you feel like there's an emotional path through it, particularly for John who's the character, who's going to be the Torchbearer moving forwards. And so in any kind of superhero or action genre, there's going to be a lot of punchy punchy, pew pew pew. And it's like, what if we just sort of dispensed with that and we're forced to sit with the emotionality, the character connections, and the sense of moving forwards that our main character, who's John, is now ready to accept the ring and carry the light into the future of whoever this character is. Like, have we hit those marks?