Lanterns has concluded. Hal Jordan’s killer was revealed, and I’ll refrain from telling you who gets the ring in the end, just in case you haven’t caught up to the finale yet. But once you’re all done with the HBO Max show, you might need something that’s a bit of a change of pace. Fortunately, I know just the series to dive into next, and it was a massive sci-fi hit back in the 1990s.
The show is The X-Files, and even though it also features aliens and a pair of odd-couple cops, it couldn’t be more different.
The X-Files is the perfect anti-Lanterns
Lanterns was a bold new take on DC comics’ various Green Lantern heroes. While the character has most often been associated with grand, operatic space adventures, Lanterns was a grittier, more grounded affair. Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) is the cocky, go-with-your-gut veteran superhero who was selected to be Earth’s first Green Lantern, part of a universal protection force whose members use powerful green rings that can generate pretty much whatever the wearer can imagine out of green light.
Tired of Jordan’s rule-breaking behavior, the Guardians — the alien beings who oversee the Green Lantern Corps — select serious-minded ex-Marine John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) to become Hal’s partner, which is really just a ruse to have Stewart replace Jordan. Together, the two investigate a deadly incident in the small town of Rushville, Nebraska.
The X-Files also starts out with a bit of a ruse. The show is about a pair of FBI agents who investigate cases involving paranormal phenomena. The cases are referred to as “the X-Files” and they’ve become the obsession of Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), who has a strong belief in aliens and other supernatural elements. Prior to the events of the series, Mulder had been a hotshot criminal profiler in the FBI, and the higher–ups at the agency are now looking to bring him back into the fold by giving him a partner who will debunk his work on the X-Files. They select Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), a trained medical doctor who believes in hard science, and is wildly skeptical about the wilder elements of Mulder’s work.
For both Lanterns and The X-Files — and pretty much all media about mismatched cops — the two partners gain a begrudging respect for each other. In Lanterns, Jordan and Stewart come to admire one another’s bravery and sense of honor. On The X-Files, Mulder learns to appreciate the tough questions Scully asks, while Scully comes to realize that Mulder’s theories and beliefs aren’t quite as wild as she’d originally thought. Mulder and Scully also develop a romantic relationship over time, but that takes several seasons to come to fruition and it’s done really organically.
The X-Files is a totally different experience
While I realize that I’m pointing out a lot of the similarities between the two shows, they have vastly different viewing experiences. Lanterns is just eight episodes and they’re all dedicated to one case. In contrast, The X-Files ran for 11 seasons, totaling 218 episodes. While the show has a central mythology that extends through the series, the vast majority of episodes are procedural, with new standalone cases every week. The series also covers a wide variety of subject matter. Sometimes it’s about aliens, sometimes it’s about ghosts or urban legends or elements of the occult. There’s even an episode where Mulder is seduced by a vampire. (I recommend you skip that one, since it’s pretty terrible.)
The X-Files also has a very different tone. While Lanterns has a moodiness to it inspired by the likes of True Detective, The X-Files had a lot of variety. The show can be deadly serious in one episode, then lean into more of an action/thriller vibe for the next one. Some episodes are even quite funny. The genre-hopping all works really well too, thanks to the chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson. As wild, or as heavy, as the show gets, their partnership is the show’s anchor and that’s why the show lasted as long as it did and why it became a monster success in the 1990s.
In a way, The X-Files is kind of an inverted mirror of Lanterns. With The X-Files, the FBI agents are the most grounded thing about the show, while the cases themselves were more outlandish. In Lanterns, the Green Lanterns and their power set is the most fantastic element, whereas the case is somewhat more grounded. Even with the Manhunter component, Lanterns is interestingly low to the ground.
Plus, there are no power rings in The X-Files, which is a pretty big thing in Lanterns.
The X-Files is available to stream on Pluto TV, Hulu, and Disney Plus.