Aaron Pierre to play John Stewart in DC TV Series ‘Lanterns’

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Aaron Pierre is joining the DC Studios TV series ‘Lanterns.’
The show adapts the ‘Green Lantern’ comics.
Damon Lindelof and Chris Mundy are among the producers of the new show.

The details are truly falling into place for DC Studios/HBO’s ‘Green Lanterns’ comics-based TV series ‘Lanterns.’

We learned last month that Kyle Chandler had entered talks to play one of the key lead roles, Lantern Corps member Hal Jordan, and he’s now signed a deal to star.

Casting his co-star came down to final decision between Stephan James (‘Race’) and Aaron Pierre, who recently showed his bad-ass side in ‘Rebel Ridge’ on Netflix. And now we know that Pierre has won the role of John Stewart, Jordan’s fellow corpsman.

It’s a much-anticipated role, since Pierre will be playing a character based on one of the States’ first black superheroes, and the show itself is a key part of DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran’s strategy going forward.

What’s the story of ‘Green Lantern’ in comics form?

DC Comics’ Green Lantern John Stewart. Photo: DC Comics.

Created in its first incarnation (a Lantern named Alan Scott) in 1940 by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger, the concept of the ‘Green Lantern’ comics is that of a super-powered, police force, battling evil doers with rings that allow them to channel energy into different forms. There are many Lanterns, who patrol the known and unknown universe.

‘Green Lantern’s history on screen has been seriously mixed. Though different takes on the character have flourished in animated movies and series, their live-action counterparts have had less luck. Ryan Reynolds played the Hal Jordan version in a 2011 movie that didn’t triumph at the box office, and there have been fleeting glimpses on the small screen.

Even Zack Snyder didn’t manage to realize his chosen Lantern –– John Stewart –– in his mammoth Snyder Cut of ‘Justice League’. Despite shooting a cameo with Wayne T. Carr as Stewart, Warners asked him to remove the character because of the studio’s own plans. In the end, Snyder swapped in Martian Manhunter.

Gunn has Nathan Fillion playing the Guy Gardner incarnation in his ‘Superman’ movie, which lands on July 11th next year.

(Center) James Gunn and the cast of ‘Superman.’ Photo: James Gunn’s Instagram Account.

And the show had been in development before Gunn and Safran made their big announcement. Back in 2020, ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ Seth Grahame-Smith hopped aboard to write and run what HBO Max (as the streaming service was then called) was picturing its most expensive series to date, a space-set ‘Green Lantern’ drama whose focus would be the Alan Scott and Guy Gardner iterations of the character among the first and most popular versions.

‘Lanterns’ will follow the Hal Jordan and John Stewart characters, as new recruit Stewart and Lantern legend Jordan are described in the latest official synopsis as “two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.” So, think ‘True Detective’ meets ‘Green Lantern’…

Who is working on ‘Lanterns’?

Jodie Foster in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.

Chris Mundy, whose resume includes stints on Netflix’s ‘Ozark’ and HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country’, is showrunner on the new series, working alongside ‘Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof and DC comics writer Tom King (whose ‘Supergirl’ comic is the basis for the new movie featuring the character).

And James Hawes, who has worked on series including ‘Black Mirror’ ‘Snowpiercer’ and Season 1 of ‘Slow Horses,’ will direct the first two episodes.