Poorna Jagannathan and Garret Dillahunt in Lanterns John Johnson/HBO Max (2) [This story contains major spoilers for Lanterns fifth episode, “Lights Out.”]
For 30 years, Poorna Jagannathan’s Lanterns character, Zoe Macon, kept the small Nebraska town of Rushville safe from illness and crop failure. In exchange for good health and prosperity, she bound the townsfolk to protect her and conceal her identity from her intergalactic enemies. Zoe may present as a South Asian woman, but she’s really the last remaining Manhunter — a synthetic shapeshifter originally created by the Guardians of the Universe to police the known cosmos.
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When the Guardians realized that their creations operated with excessive force and brutality, they decommissioned the Manhunters as intergalactic peacekeepers and replaced them with Green Lanterns. Having slipped through the cracks, the entity later known as “Zoe” sought refuge on an alien planet belonging to an eventual lover, Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor). But because Manhunter programming is unyielding in the face of anything deemed chaotic, Zoe administered “justice” by committing a genocide against Antaan’s species, making her a most-wanted war criminal.
After Green Lantern Abin Sur apprehended Zoe for these crimes, his spaceship crash-landed near Rushville, allowing Zoe the opportunity to kill him and morph into her alternate identity as Zoe. That’s also when a dying Abin Sur initiated the transfer of his power ring to Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) in 1986.
Shortly thereafter, Zoe offered her unique abilities and technological capabilities to various individuals around town, primarily Garret Dillahunt’s successful rancher, William Macon. From cowboys who could function as militiamen to property that could house advanced gadgetry, Macon had the resources and infrastructure Zoe needed for her own protection. She also had what Macon needed — the capacity to cure his terminal illness. They soon fell in love and became Mr. and Mrs. Macon. Will devoted his extra time on Earth to shielding his wife by any means necessary.
Jagannathan believes that Zoe created these “contracts” with practically everyone in town, including Gotham City runaway Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) — Zoe’s future step-daughter-in-law and local sheriff. Rushville’s citizens seemingly had it made until 2016. That’s when a handful of Antaan’s extraterrestrials infiltrated the area and caught bullets in the aftermath of a high school football game. That mass murder then caught the attention of the Lanterns, Hal and his replacement-in-waiting, John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), who arrived on the scene to investigate. Sensing trouble, Zoe immediately orchestrated an introduction to John, whom she deemed the strongest of the Lantern threats. She used the Manhunter tactic of seduction in order to hopefully gain an ally when push came to shove.
Following his tryst with Zoe in the parking lot of the town bar, John had a violent encounter with Antaan and his soldiers during a brief return trip to California. Antaan informed John of the Manhunter who’s hiding out in Rushville. Then he forced John to witness the devastation that this particular Manhunter inflicted on his people, warning him that this vision of collective loss would linger.
Back in Rushville, John did the math and quickly deduced that Zoe was indeed the Manhunter. But when Hal catches him lying about it, he again engineers another car accident, only John couldn’t free himself from this one like he did in the pilot. Zoe shows up just before the perpetually doomed rental vehicle catches on fire, but instead of rescuing John, she does her own calculation. If she lets John burn to near death, she can leverage her ability to restore his health with her need to rid her Hal Jordan problem once and for all.
John eventually agrees to give up Jordan in exchange for Zoe using her tech to heal his charred body. At the same time, all hell breaks loose as Antaan descends on the town. Jordan points him toward the Macon family ranch, while Zoe deploys orbital weaponry to destroy the town and deliberately drain Hal of his ring power in an effort to protect the locals.
John eventually blindsides Hal and beats him to a pulp. But instead of killing him, John flees the premises of their motel for Zoe to find Hal. What Zoe doesn’t realize is that John lured her to this position so he could finally complete his assassination mission. He was not going to be denied the chance to pull the trigger this time, something Hal unknowingly prevented during John’s previous assignment in the Marine Corps, leading to his dishonorable discharge.
For Jagannathan, Zoe’s downfall was expecting John Stewart to honor his word like the Rushville populace did.
“Her fatal flaw is assuming that human beings operate like she does. But John outmaneuvers that. He goes against the contract, and no one has ever, ever gone against that contract,” Jagannathan tells The Hollywood Reporter. “She just got completely outmaneuvered, and that smile at the end is her recognizing the fact that she finally got outmaneuvered. It’s a game-recognizes-game situation.”
Below, during a spoiler conversation with THR, Jagannathan and Dillahunt also discuss the complex dynamic between Zoe and Macon, their final phone call and why they’re glad that they did not know the true nature of their characters ahead of time.
***
Porna Jagannathan and Garret Dillahunt …
POORNA JAGANNATHAN Man, thank you for pronouncing our names correctly. That was really good.
GARRET DILLAHUNT You had to say two weird names, and you just rattled them off like it was nothing.
It’s the least any journalist can do, although I briefly considered going with Chromartie.
DILLAHUNT (Appreciating the reference.) Wow!
This interview will run after Lanterns’ fifth episode, so adjust your filters accordingly.
DILLAHUNT That’s perfect for us. We’re dead.
JAGANNATHAN Yeah, we’re gone.
Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe in Lanterns John Johnson/HBO Max Firstly, Hal was right: Macon and Zoe really were a Keyser Soze situation. When the two of you first found out about your characters’ charade, did you strategize at all as far as leaving breadcrumbs or clues?
DILLAHUNT I don’t think so.
JAGANNATHAN We knew what not to do.
DILLAHUNT With the pedigree of this writing team, I felt so safe and taken care of, and I knew things would be revealed as they should be. So all I had to do was play this guy and make him as human as possible.
JAGANNATHAN I only found out that I was a Manhunter when I read it [in episode four]. I wasn’t told at the beginning of it all when I accepted the job. I had no idea.
DILLAHUNT Did they think you were going to blow it or something? I wonder why.
JAGANNATHAN I do have a very loud mouth.
Generally speaking, do you prefer to not know such information in advance?
JAGANNATHAN If there’s a big plot twist, I’ve never not known. It was one of the biggest surprises of my career, I kid you not. I screamed when I found out. It was midnight when I got to that script, and it was a delightful surprise. I didn’t see it coming in the writing, and I think that was very intentional. She’s a mysterious character, and she’s kind of the odd one out. She’s presented as a bit of an outsider who’s attracted to John because they’re both people of color in a very white town. So there’s an instant affinity and an instant curiosity. But even I was writing her off. I didn’t quite know what was happening. I thought she was a bit of a trophy wife, and I didn’t quite know her role. So it was a huge surprise, but the trick is to play against that and leave absolutely no breadcrumbs.
Once Kerry (Kelly Macdonald) became beholden to Zoe during the 2007 diner flashback, did they both target father and son Macon for their resources that could protect Zoe? Or was Zoe already with William?
JAGANNATHAN Zoe was already with him. That scene with Kerry is really to telegraph to the audience that she’s made that deal with every single person in that town. Zoe probably has that contract with every single person in that town, and their conversation is one that she’s probably had with every person in that town. The town of Rushville is beholden to her.
DILLAHUNT That is why we’re all so protective of you.
JAGANNATHAN When the time comes, that’s why everyone gets their arms out and is ready to take down the Lanterns [and Antaan’s extraterrestrials] for her. When Abin Sur crashed his spaceship in Rushville, Zoe was on that spaceship. And although she didn’t want to kill Abin Sur, there was a slight chance that he would go and tell the Lanterns that Zoe is still alive. So she had to kill him because her survival is paramount to everything. She puts her survival above everything. So she’s been in Rushville all these years, and she’s been since the day that Hal Jordan got his ring [via Abin Sur] in ‘86.
Zoe cured William’s cancer in exchange for his vast resources that could protect her. Did you treat their relationship as an arranged marriage that developed genuine feelings over time?
JAGANNATHAN Interesting …
DILLAHUNT She saved Macon’s life. Macon was dying, and I’m sure there was a little bit of Florence Nightingale syndrome [in both directions]. He still has the scar from his chemo port on his chest that’s visible in that [nude modeling] scene. So she changed him dramatically. I would bet that he wasn’t that open-minded of a fellow before their paths crossed. She opened his mind and his consciousness in ways he never imagined. She’s traveled the freaking galaxy. So he probably fell hard for this being early on and became a zealot for her. He’s devoted his whole life to her, to protecting her and to building this network of safety around her.
JAGANNATHAN Yeah, I do think their relationship was [always] genuine.
You just referenced the nude modeling scene. When Macon disrobes and struts around like Beast Wizard, that’s an example of his devotion and protection. He takes attention away from Zoe by acting as audaciously as possible. Did you keep the sketch? If so, where is it?
DILLAHUNT I really appreciate your subtle references to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It’s surprising how many people want to know about that sketch. I should have kept it. There were quite a few sketches because all of that work had to be done beforehand. We had to decide the pose, and then I had to be sketched by this other artist. So I tried all these different poses, and that’s the one they chose. But I don’t know what I’d do with the sketch if I kept it.
So it’s in a dusty warehouse somewhere next to the Ark.
DILLAHUNT Yeah, it just spirited away. I didn’t even think about it.
JAGANNATHAN I made sure to keep my Zoe sketch.
Poorna Jagannathan’s Zoe and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart in Lanterns John Johnson/HBO Max Poorna, as soon as John and Hal got to town, she ingratiated herself to John because Manhunters use seduction as a survival tactic. She later saved his life by using her advanced tech to heal his badly burned body. So was her fatal flaw misjudging the strength of the connection she formed with John?
JAGANNATHAN Her fatal flaw is assuming that human beings operate like she does. She is programmed in a very certain way and assumes human beings also have that very particular programming. She glitches [human] programming by saving someone when they need it. She glitches their programming by making them indebted. It’s worked throughout her life on Earth, and it’s worked throughout her life on other planets. But John outmaneuvers that. He goes against the contract, and no one has ever, ever gone against that contract. She’s not doing anyone a favor. She’s literally bringing someone back to life from the brink of death. And you can see in that [burning car] scene with John, she waits. She doesn’t pull him out of the car right away. She waits and waits and waits till he gets to the brink of death [for optimal leverage]. That’s who she is. That’s the space that she plays in, and that’s the power she has. But she just got completely outmaneuvered, and that smile at the end is her recognizing the fact that she finally got outmaneuvered. It’s a game-recognizes-game situation.
Garret, Paul Ben-Victor’s Antaan ripping Macon’s heart out is a very cool death, I must say. And unlike John, Macon stayed loyal until his final breath.
DILLAHUNT I just wish Macon was a little better of an actor. He could have saved Zoe’s life for a little longer. He basically bought her 30 seconds. (Laughs.) I worked with Paul a long time ago on HBO’s John from Cincinnati, and it was wild to see him spring up on that desk.
Garret Dillahunt as Macon in Lanterns John Johnson/HBO Max I really appreciated Zoe and Macon’s final phone call. We saw the real Macon for the first time without all the strategic bluster, and the two of you beautifully conveyed the sadness of knowing that they’ll never see each other again.
DILLAHUNT That little scenelet was my favorite.
JAGANNATHAN (Responds underneath in agreement.) Yeah.
DILLAHUNT I really was grateful that they gave us that moment to express the real dynamic that’s been going on here.
JAGANNATHAN William struts around with such a big ego, and then to see what he’s really made of — and that deep relationship and deep gratitude that they have for each other — it’s very moving.
DILLAHUNT If you know the exact moment that you’re probably going to die, it’s a weird gift, isn’t it?
JAGANNATHAN Yeah. They’ve waited for this day. They knew this day was coming. It just took 30 years to get here.
*** Lanterns airs new episodes every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max until Oct. 4. Check out the rest of THR’s coverage including Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler; EPs Damon Lindelof and Tom King; showrunner Chris Mundy and writer Vanessa Baden Kelly.
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