About

Thoughts On Lanterns is an exploitable meme format based on a tweet sharing a promotional image from the 2026 Green Lantern TV show, Lanterns, of the protagonists, John Stewart and Hal Jordan, played by actors Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler, respectively, walking down a street.

The memes went viral on X / Twitter in early September 2026. As a meme, the image of Pierre and Chandler is typically edited or redrawn to make them resemble other notable characters, and the caption is altered to reference the franchise that the characters come from.

Origin

On September 4th, 2026, X^[1] / Twitter user @fmjiggy posted, "Thoughts on Lanterns 2026?" with an image of Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre from Lanterns, garnering about 35 likes in six days.

On September 8th, X^[2] user @jadeladeljadel posted an identical tweet, but with clothes badly edited onto Chandler and Pierre, garnering over 53,000 likes and 3,700 reposts in two days.

Spread

The meme spread across X / Twitter in early September 2026 as users created numerous variants using the format.

On September 8th, 2026, X^[3] user @DaisyHugging posted an edit that depicts the characters as the protagonists from Cuphead, garnering over 47,000 likes in two days.

On September 9th, X^[4] user @OfficixlGrug posted a version that depicts the characters as SpongeBob and Patrick, garnering over 34,000 likes in a day.

Later that day, X^[5] user @DiscussingFish_ posted a version of the meme that depicts the characters as Walt and Jesse from Breaking Bad, garnering over 35,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References