I’m not sure I have ever seen something like this happen, where a previously relatively unknown actor has a breakout part in a movie, everyone who sees him believes he should land a specific big tentpole part, and a literal month later he is starring in that very same project in that very same role.
That man is Aaron Pierre, that breakout movie was Rebel Ridge and that fan-casted and finalized role is John Stewart, the main Green Lantern for James Gunn’s DCU.
Insiders began to report the development, then it hit outlets like THR, then James Gunn himself chimed in:
“Welcome to DC, Aaron Pierre. After a long and grueling series of auditions I am absolutely sure we’ve found an incredible John Stewart.”
The audition process reportedly came down to Pierre and Stephen James who did screen tests with Hal Jordan, the recently cast Kyle Chandler. The two will pair for a murder mystery set on Earth, albeit in their role as space cops. It’s being pitched as a true HBO show like The Last of Us or The Penguin, so it will have a high profile when it arrives.
In the case of Pierre, it also stands to reason that he will go on to make film appearances in future DCU projects. A third Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, is already in the upcoming Superman, and while no Justice League assembly project has been announced, it stands to reason that it will happens someday, Pierre will be there as Stewart.
Pierre was a huge standout for his role in Rebel Ridge, where everything from his looks to his obvious charisma made him an instant fan-cast for John Stewart essentially as soon as the movie came out. No doubt the noise was loud enough that Gunn and others sat down to watch Rebel Ridge themselves and came to the conclusion that yes, he should be in the mix. It’s somewhat similar to Gunn pulling now-Supergirl Milly Alcock into the casting process after seeing her in House of the Dragon. But what happened with Aaron Pierre is much, much faster. Rebel Ridge came out on September 6. It’s October 9. There are meteoric rises, and there is whatever just happened here.
Lanterns seems to be coming together well with both leads cast and now James Hawes coming on board to direct the first two episodes after his time on Slow Horses, one of the best shows on TV. It is not clear if Lanterns is meant to be a one-off, or continue past its first season. Regardless, everyone will be watching to see if Pierre lives up to the hype.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
