Aaron Pierre has just leveled up to play one of the biggest superheroes in HBO’s Lanterns.
Green Lantern is one of DC’s most recognizable icons, and the John Stewart iteration has become a fan favorite in recent years. Pierre, known for his role in this year’s Rebel Ridge for Netflix, will take on the mantle alongside Kyle Chandler, who is already on the callsheet as Green Lantern Hal Jordan.
Multiple outlets have reported that Pierre and Stephan James, known for the Jesse Owens biopic Race and this year’s The Piano Lesson, were the final choices for John Stewart. Both actors screen-tested with Kyle Chandler last Thursday and Friday, and the final decision is coming this Tuesday.
Aaron Pierre broke out this year in Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge on Netflix and was the number one title worldwide on the streamer for three weeks in a row. He also appeared in The Underground Railroad, Old, and is set for this year’s Mufasa: The Lion King.
Lanterns follows Hal Jordan, a legend amongst the space police force known as the Green Lanterns, as he reluctantly mentors Stewart, a younger Green Lantern. The two intergalactic cops get drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Eisner Award-winning comic book writer Tom King are executive producing and writing, with Mundy showrunning. The series is a planned eight-episode season with James Hawes tapped to helm the first two episodes.
Production is expected to begin soon.
