Chris Coy Brings Lawlessness And Mystery As Latest 'Lanterns' Casting

It’s time to light up again, we’ve got a mysterious figure headed to the DC Universe

The cast of HBO and DC Studios’s Lanterns is still being illuminated even after the Gardner came. In the hours leading up to Warner Bros.’s ultimately disappointing CinemaCon panel, its prestige IP TV is still getting headlines. This time it’s Chris Coy joining the Green Lantern-based series as a guest star.

Coy will be playing someone who goes by the name “Waylon Sanders”. He is described as an intelligent survivor or a nervous truck driver. Seems like the detectives are trying to get his story straight. His age and real name aren’t known, but he’s unbound by the laws of nature. The character is original to the series. Like much of the supporting cast actually.

Jasmine Cephas Jones To Play Young Bernadette Stewart On HBO, DC Studios’s 'Lanterns'

As far as his other credits, Coy will next be seen in Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor in the upcoming film Flowervale Street, which recently moved from March to August 2026, and be a series regular in the Netflix limited series Black Rabbit with Jason Bateman and Jude Law. He has plenty of previous HBO experience including The Deuce, portraying real-life journalist A.C. Thompson in Treme, and recurring on True Blood. Elsewhere, he starred in the ABC miniseries Women of the Movement, Prime Video’s The Peripheral, and the Billy Porter-directed episode of Fox’s Accused. He recurred on Paramount+’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Banshee on Cinemax. In film, Coy starred with Juno Temple in Little Birds and had supporting roles in The Absence of Eden, Cowboys and The Killing of Two Lovers. Apparently smaller credits include The Front Runner, Detroit, and Trial By Fire.

Lanterns sees John Stewart, played by Aaron Pierre as the new Green Lantern Corps. recruit being paired with Lantern legend Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, together described as “two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.” As alluded to, Coy’s “Sanders” joins a cast full of characters who don’t originate from the comics. That includes Kelly Macdonald as Hal’s reported love interest, Sheriff Kerry, who seems to be pursued over the course of the season, Garret Dillahunt as “modern cowboy” William Macon, Jason Ritter as his son Billy Macon, and Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe, John’s reported love interest. John’s parents, who aren’t all that much of characters themselves despite him obviously, well, being born have been cast for significant roles that give them substantial development in two time periods. They might as well be new characters. Mother Bernadette will be played by Jasmine Cephas Jones in flashbacks and Nicole Ari Parker in present day, while dad John Sr. is played in flashbacks by J. Alphonse Nicholson and in present day by Sherman Augustus. Currently, only Ulrich Thomsen as the villain Sinestro and Nathan Fillion reprising the Green Lantern Guy Gardner role he’ll debut in Superman are the only supporting characters who originate from the comics, where John’s parents are named Shirley and Henry.

Showrunner Chris Mundy, previously of Ozark, and co-writers and executive producers Lindelof and Tom King all developed the show. James Hawes directs the first two episodes and also executive produces with Ron Schmidt. The other directors are Stephen Williams, Geeta Vasant Patel, and Alik Sakharov, while the costume designer is Cynthia Ann Summers. Lanterns is the first live action series crafted for the new DC Universe and premieres on HBO in early 2026.

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Source: Deadline