Three Weeks After ‘Rebel Ridge,’ Aaron Pierre Is A Green Lantern Finalist

Want to see a meteoric career rise? Look no further than Aaron Pierre, who gained millions of fans for his leading role in Rebel Ridge, the top movie on Netflix for a good long while after its release earlier this month.

Now, Aaron Pierre is reportedly one of two finalists vying for the role of Green Lantern, John Stewart specifically, as the Lanterns HBO show spools up its cast. It just cast Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, and the film is meant to be a superhero True Detective-ish space cop drama with a grizzled veteran and young upstart dynamic.

Pierre is not the only finalist, and reportedly his competition is Stephan James, most recently of The Piano Lesson. He also led the MGM+ show, Beacon 23. Previously, Snowfall’s Damson Idris was considered a top pick but dropped out of contention when he was set to begin filming another movie.

I am not familiar with James, but as soon as I watched Rebel Ridge I immediately joined a chorus of fans saying that Pierre would be great as John Stewart, who would not just co-lead that HBO show, but would no doubt have a larger role in the DCU after that as the “main” Lantern there. Pierre showed a physicality and charisma that you’d expect from John Stewart, and I’d frankly be pretty surprised if he didn’t get the role. I have to assume after all the buzz James Gunn sat down and watched Rebel Ridge and well, here we are.

MORE FOR YOU
New Chrome Security Warning For 3 Billion Windows, Mac, Linux, Android Users
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers For Saturday, September 28
Mikaela Mayer Vs. Sandy Ryan Results: Winner, Scorecard And Reaction

Gunn has been known to cast based on recent series he’s liked, which is how Milly Alcock got on his radar for Supergirl after her turn in House of the Dragon. But this would be an exceedingly fast turnaround, as Rebel Ridge only debuted three weeks ago and Pierre has ascended rapidly. Ironically, one of his previously biggest roles was on Syfy’s Krypton, the Superman prequel series.

Given that Kyle Chandler was just cast as Hal Jordan, I would expect things to move pretty quickly here. Pierre is not a guarantee, of course, but essentially at every stage of the DCU casting process the rumored shortlist people have in fact gotten the role eventually and a majority of people seem generally satisfied with Gunn’s picks for major roles so far (oh, and we can’t forget Nathan Fillion will be Guy Gardner in the Superman movie).

We’ll see if Pierre lands it, but I am firmly in his camp after Rebel Ridge, and am happy to see him as a finalist here.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.