HBO Max built two worlds at Comic-Con — and made its own creators walk through them

HBO Max arrived at San Diego this year with something most streamers haven’t attempted at scale: not a Hall H reveal and not a trailer drop, but two full physical experiences that attendees could walk through, pass or fail, and leave with a memento. The distinction matters when a show hasn’t aired yet. A first look is consumed and forgotten. A training base with a custom ring at the end of it gets shared, talked about, and worn on the commute home.

The first activation, “Lanterns Training Headquarters,” occupied the Gaslamp District from Thursday through Saturday and recruited visitors into the Green Lantern Corps. Participants were asked to prove their fearlessness through a series of hands-on challenges staged inside a world modeled on Rushville, Nebraska — the setting for the murder mystery at the heart of the series. Succeed, and you earned a custom Lantern ring. The show’s creators Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King joined cast members Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Garret Dillahunt, and Poorna Jagannathan in taking on the challenge themselves. Whether Lindelof — who turned HBO’s Watchmen into one of the prestige era’s defining hours — passed the fearlessness test was not disclosed.

A visitor lit by a green energy sphere inside the Lanterns activation at Comic-Con — Photo: David Jon / HBO Max

The second activation, “The Comic Center of Pasadena,” transported fans into the comic book store owned by Stuart Bloom in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, a Max Original already on air. Visitors journey through alternate realities, discover their hero archetypes, and leave with personalized keepsakes designed by Acronym, the production company behind the experience. Chuck Lorre, Zak Penn, and Bill Prady — the Big Bang Theory veterans who created the show — walked through it on Thursday alongside stars Kevin Sussman, Lauren Lapkus, Brian Posehn, and John Ross Bowie.

Neither activation was positioned as supplemental programming. Both ran alongside formal panels: Stuart with an advance screening and Q&A on Thursday; Lanterns with a Hall H event on Friday that included exclusive series footage and a first look at how John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) — two Green Lanterns from different generations — are drawn into a terrestrial murder case with implications that reach beyond the heartland. The show is executive-produced by DC Studios’ James Gunn and Peter Safran, alongside Mundy, Lindelof, King, and director James Hawes.

Lanterns premieres August 16 on HBO and HBO Max. Stuart Fails to Save the Universe — from Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television — is now streaming, with new episodes every Thursday. Photography from the activations by David Jon.

Tags: hbo max, James Gunn, DC Studios, San Diego Comic-Con, Damon Lindelof, Lanterns