Do you have what it takes to be a Lantern?

That was the central question behind the Lanterns Training Headquarters at San Diego Comic-Con, the ambitious HBO Max activation that ran for three days during the July convention and transformed Venue 808 into the fictional town of Rushville, Nebraska. Rather than simply walking through recreated sets, attendees became Green Lantern recruits who had to prove their mettle by solving mysteries, completing missions, and ultimately earning one of the convention’s most sought-after giveaways: a custom Green Lantern power ring.

After the con, I caught up with Jen Kadragich Thomas, Senior Creative Director at NVE Experience Agency (who are behind some of Comic-Con’s most beloved activations over the last few years, including Peacemaker PeaceFest and Dungeons & Dragons), about how the experience came together, the challenges of bringing an entirely new world to Comic-Con, and why making fans part of the story was always the goal.

Becoming the Green Lantern

From the moment recruits entered the building, Lanterns Training Headquarters made one thing clear: this wasn’t going to be another walkthrough experience. Attendees were divided into four different recruit groups, briefed on their mission, and paired with an in-universe Green Lantern Corps. guide who led them deeper into the facility.

Along the way, they slipped through darkened hallways, hid from unseen threats, and eventually found themselves inside Rushville, where every mission brought them one step closer to earning a Green Lantern power ring.

The concept behind that experience began months before attendees ever stepped inside.

“Lanterns Training Headquarters stemmed from an idea we pitched at the beginning of February,” Thomas told me. “Though the original concept was a bit different, the core proposition — that we’d actually test consumers against the show’s key theme of fearlessness — really resonated.”

Once creative agency NVE was awarded the project, HBO Max helped refine the direction by centering the experience in Rushville, Nebraska, the small town where much of the series takes place. “We spent the following five months honing in on the narrative of proving yourself to become the next Green Lantern, and building the world of Lanterns brick by brick,” Thomas said.

Rather than treating guests as spectators, NVE wanted attendees to become part of the narrative.

“What makes experiential marketing so unique is the opportunity to convert passive consumers into active participants,” Thomas said, describing NVE’s role as figuring out how to offer fans a real role and place within the world of Lanterns. “With that in mind, it felt imperative that fans got to step into the main character’s shoes and strive for the ring just as John Stewart does. This not only underlined the hero’s journey they’ll see play out on screen, but created an emotional connection to the Lanterns story.”

A Hero’s (Custom) Journey

Recruit groups didn’t experience Lanterns Training Headquarters exactly the same way. After the opening sequence, each team was sent down a different path, completing two of four possible training scenarios. Some searched a sheriff’s office for clues while coordinating over walkie-talkies, while others investigated a dive bar to uncover the location of a hidden Green Lantern. One group took part in target practice, while others experienced a simulated rooftop “flight” test.

That design wasn’t just about variety. “Collectively, we felt like it would be really fun to exit the experience and compare notes with friends and other fans, only to realize that each person had been challenged with a slightly different experience,” Thomas said. “There’s value and a certain level of ‘personalization’ that comes with creating that differentiation.”

There was also a practical benefit. “It helped us move more people through each day, while keeping the individual experience robust,” Thomas explained.

The same attention to detail extended outside the experience itself. While advanced reservations for the experience filled quickly prior to the con, standby guests who were willing to put in the time consistently moved through the line throughout the weekend.

“There’s a lot happening over the weekend, so you want to empower fans to make their own decisions about what they are and aren’t willing to wait for. Our production team worked really hard to figure out the happy medium between reservation slots and standby slots per hour,” Thomas said. “We actually ended up being able to get more fans into the experience than our initial projections.”

Creating an experience that was both immersive for attendees and capable of accommodating as many fans as possible required “so, so much math” and months of planning, Thomas explained. “It’s a true puzzle to figure out how to get as many fans in as possible without sacrificing the experience in the name of throughput.”

For that reason, the activation required months of tinkering, including some ideas not surviving the planning process.

“There were lots of challenges left on the cutting room floor — a lie detector, an interrogation,” Thomas said. “There was a brief moment where we even entertained the idea of blindfolding fans and leading them into an undisclosed location where they’d view unreleased content.”

While those concepts never made it into the final experience, Thomas believes the finished collection of missions struck the right balance.

Building a World Fans Had Never Seen

Unlike many activations that recreate familiar locations, Lanterns asked fans to invest in a place they had never visited or seen on screen before. Rushville, Nebraska may be central to the series, but before Comic-Con, audiences were unfamiliar with the series’ locations. That presented an unusual challenge.

“Typically, experiences this immersive bring to life well-known worlds, so it was a fun and interesting challenge to figure out how to drop fans into something new and hook them into the story in 30 minutes flat,” Thomas said.

NVE worked closely with HBO Max throughout development to make sure every detail felt authentic to the series. That included script reviews, brainstorming Easter eggs, getting the “green light” from series creator Tom King (pun intended), and even collaborating with the show’s VFX team to recreate Green Lantern’s signature construct effect during the Macon Ranch maze sequence.

“The big question mark for us was how to make that visual as impactful in real life,” Thomas said. “We were thrilled to be able to nail that moment where it bursts to life… but it took a lot of R&D and partnership with the actual VFX team from the show to make it happen.”

And yes, there were hidden details for eagle-eyed fans.

“There were 100% Easter eggs,” Thomas said, pointing specifically to the Macon Ranch maze and Sheriff’s Office, while also teasing wider DC references like the Zesti Cola drink special in the dive bar. While she won’t tease specifics ahead of the show’s premiere, fans will get to look back at the experience with fresh eyes once the series has premiered on August 16.

The Details Made the Difference

One of the biggest reasons Lanterns felt immersive wasn’t the sets or special effects; it was the people. Every recruit group was guided by a paired performer who remained in character from beginning to end, keeping the story moving while directing attendees through each puzzle and mission.

“The performers crushed it,” Thomas said. “They really make or break this type of experience. When they’re at their best, live performers add a level of storytelling, nuance, and authenticity that I find harder to achieve with environments and touchpoints alone. What’s amazing is that they’re simultaneously delivering the story, directing and redirecting the audience’s attention, creating community, and corralling fans.”

Behind the scenes, that required months of preparation. NVE’s copywriter, Jacob Cullen, developed a 14-page script, while performers, stage managers, show callers, AV teams, and lighting crews spent months rehearsing every cue before Comic-Con began. “Everyone knew exactly what needed to happen by the time we were live,” Thomas said.

Earning the Ring

By the end of the experience, recruits had solved their missions, recited the Green Lantern oath before a Guardian, selected their own ring size, and officially joined the Corps. The ring quickly became one of the most coveted giveaways of the weekend, but Thomas believes its popularity came from more than simply being a cool collectible.

“That, combined with the idea that you were working to prove yourself in order to obtain the ring, turned a takeaway into an obsession,” she said. The fact that the ring was exceptional quality for a Comic-Con giveaway didn’t hurt either (and thanks for that, HBO Max and NVE).

With the help of MAP360 Collective, additional rings were also distributed at Gaslamp bars throughout the weekend, giving even more attendees the chance to join the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps.

Building for San Diego Comic-Con

Comic-Con audiences expect more from immersive experiences than ever before, and Thomas believes that expectation pushes her team every step of the way.  “From the jump, we’re chewing on two major things: what’s the simplest story we can get them to care about, and what haven’t they seen or experienced at Comic-Con before?”

For Lanterns, that story was simple. “You’re training to be the Green Lantern. That’s the hook,” Thomas said. “Now we have the latitude to make it feel like magic.”

As for the “magic”, it involved pushing the team to new heights— sometimes literally, with the experience dropping attendees through trap doors 10 feet in the air. But the desire to impress Comic-Con attendees gave the teams the license to think bigger and better than ever before.

Looking back on the weekend, though, Thomas’s favorite memory wasn’t a particular room or effect. It was watching fans leave. “I couldn’t believe the number of fans that thanked us on their way out,” she said. “The SDCC crowd is really such a lovely group of people, and it’s an honor to get to give them the chance to experience the thing they love, the thing they get in line for at 2 in the morning, in a new way. It makes us so thankful that we get to do this job and elicit that kind of joy.”