Lanterns‘ latest episode challenges a familiar Green Lantern tradition by questioning who truly deserves the power ring. In a recent interview, writer Vanessa Baden Kelly opened up about how Bernadette Stewart could become a Lantern under different circumstances.
Speaking with Collider, Baden Kelly explained the thinking behind the selection process and how different perspectives on fear can affect it. She pointed out the kitchen scene between Jasmine Cephas Jones’ Bernadette and Laura Linney‘s Lianna.
“The thing that I would always say in the room is that if the ring wasn’t sexist, Bernadette would have been chosen, because she really is just the most fearless of everybody,” the 40-year-old said.
According to Kelly, a person’s experiences shape how they understand and overcome fear. She explained that overcoming fear can look very different depending on someone’s circumstances.
“You can be terrified walking in your neighborhood every single day, and yet still you walk,” Baden Kelly said. “Somebody else can come in and have no fear whatsoever because they don’t know what your neighborhood is like.”
Lanterns is putting its own spin on DC Comics tradition
The latest DC series is exploring the Green Lantern selection process through the Guardians’ perspective. The series does not simply focus on a power ring finding someone worthy on its own.
Instead, the Guardians actually play a role in identifying potential Lanterns. Their approach also creates tension because they do not fully comprehend the human experience of fear.
This becomes challenging for Bernadette when Lianna comes to give John Jr. after his father failed the test. She then explains something that extraterrestrial beings can’t grasp on their own: asking a Black man in America if he’s afraid carries a completely different weight than asking anyone else.
This puts the Guardians at the center of the process, unlike the comics, where the power ring plays the key role.
