Why Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule Made a Very Random Cameo in the Lanterns Finale

3 min read

THE FINAL EPISODE of Lanterns featured a heartfelt goodbye, a new Lantern taking the mantle, and … Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule? Despite its True Detective influence, Lanterns is still, at the end of the day, a superhero show. So it wouldn’t have been absurd to anticipate that the show’s first season finale would feature an unexpected cameo. But if you foresaw that unexpected cameo? Maybe go buy a lottery ticket.

Let’s add a little context. Noah Macon (played at first in Lanterns by Weapons star Cary Christopher and then later, in older form, by Shea Pritchard) is depicted in the show as a football wunderkind. He’s the kind of small-town football prospect who’s so good that he doesn’t only inspire the whole community to rally around him, but he attracts the attention of college football coaches from around the country, all of whom want him to come play for their school. (In a way, he kind of feels like someone who would’ve played for Kyle Chandler’s Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights.)

There’s more to Noah Macon than just being a good kid (well, good enough) and a quarterback phenom, though. Like his grandmother, Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan), the finale reveals, Noah is also a Manhunter—an extraterrestrial being capable of mass murder and genocide at the drop of a hat. Not great!

It turns out that Noah’s mom, Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald), has known this all along. And she impulsively, accidentally killed our good friend Hal Jordan (Chandler) when he found out and wanted to do something about it. Whoops. Anyway, Noah attempted to take the fall for his mom’s actions when John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) started figuring things out. But John is smart, and was able to see right through it—and went right for Kerry.

He met Kerry at Noah’s football game, where she broke down just how important it was. All sorts of people determining Noah’s bright future were in the crowd, including scouts and other bigwigs. Among those bigwigs? Nebraska’s entire coaching staff, which we saw up close and personal when the camera cut to Nebraska’s actual coach, Matt Rhule. This shot will mean nothing at all to someone who is not a sports fan, but anyone who knows what the term “B1G Football” means will probably first go “what the hell?” and then laugh a little bit in confusion.

Rhule shows up again later in the episode to hand Noah a Nebraska hat and presumably invite him to join his team. (I guess Dylan Raiola transferred in the DC Universe too.)

Anyway, uh, what was this all about?

Watch Lanterns Here

How Matt Rhule Ended Up in Lanterns

How did Matt Rhule, who has been the head coach of Nebraska football since 2023, end up in Lanterns? He was asked about it at his press conference on Monday, October 5, after the episode aired.

It turns out, he said, that Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy is a Nebraska native and a big fan of the football team, and so the two had gotten to know each other in the past and became friends. He offered Rhule the chance to shoot the scene in the summer of 2025, and the coach accepted the offer. “Great show, by the way, I’ve enjoyed trying to catch it here and there,” he said. “I don’t know that I’ll be taking my talents to Broadway anytime soon, but it’s really cool to see Nebraska on HBO and have a chance to do it… It was a really cool experience.”

Makes sense—and not the first time such a thing has happened on HBO’s airwaves either. In the final season of The Sopranos, Tony (James Gandolfini) runs into then-New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini—playing himself—at a local New Jersey restaurant. Gandolfini was a huge Jets fan, and Mangini led the team to the playoffs in his first season leading the team, so the actor was probably just as excited to meet the coach as his character was.

So the precedent is there. Maybe next we can get Andy Reid into the final season of House of the Dragon? Why not.