DC Studios has released some new promo stills for Sunday's second episode of Lanterns, and they feature the debut of Paul Ben-Victor (Nobody Wants This) as Antaan.
When Ben-Victor's casting was announced, his character was described as "an extraterrestrial devoted to exposing the truth and exacting vengeance against those who wronged his people. Consumed by a deep and unrelenting hatred for the law, he is determined to deliver justice on his own terms."
Antaan isn't an established DC Comics character, and based on the description above, there's speculation that Ben-Victor could actually be playing Atrocitus.
Introduced in Green Lantern vol. 4 #25 back in 2008, Atros witnessed the deaths of his wife and children when the rogue Manhunters laid waste to Space Sector 666. Renaming himself "Atrocitus", he and four survivors formed a terrorist cabal known as the Five Inversions, who made it their mission to destroy the Guardians of the Universe and all who served them.
There's always a chance this Antaan is an original villain created for the show, but it would seem like an odd move when Atrocitus' backstory and motivations are so similar.
The first episode of Lanterns racked up an impressive 9.3 million views in its first three days of availability across HBO and HBO Max, the biggest premiere for a DC Studios show on HBO Max to date.
"Pilot" has also become one of the top five premieres on the platform overall, outperforming the likes of IT: Welcome to Derry, The Penguin, and True Detective: Night Country.
What did you make of the series premiere of Lanterns?
HBO in association with Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios. The pilot episode is co-written by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, who are co-creators for the series. Mundy serves as showrunner. The first two episodes are directed by James Hawes, with Stephen Williams, Geeta Vasant Patel, and Alik Sakharov also tapped to direct. The series is executive produced by Mundy, Lindelof, James Gunn, Peter Safran, King, Ron Schmidt, and Hawes. Based on the DC comic characters from Green Lantern.
The series stars Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Laura Linney, Jason Ritter, Ulrich Thomsen, Nathan Fillion, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones.
The series follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.