Rebel Ridge star Aaron Pierre has been cast as John Stewart, a new recruit working alongside Green Lantern legend Hal Jordan, in HBO’s new series legends, a new spin on the space-spanning DC superhero.
The show will find Stewart and Jordan teaming two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
The casting comes after fans of Rebel Ridge, a breakout hit that spent three weeks as Netflix’s No. 1 movie, began demanding that Pierre be cast as John Stewart. Pierre, a relative unknown at the time, was cast by Rebel Ridge director Jeremy Saulnier whenThe Force Awakens actor John Boyega left the project.
Pierre will next play the titular role of Mufasa in Barry Jenkins’ animated Lion King prequel for Disney.
Also Read: Rebel Ridge Director Jeremy Saulnier on the Very Real, ‘Very Unjust’ Police Tactic the Film Exposes
Pierre also recently appeared in Genius: MLK/X, as civil rights leader Malcolm X, in Garth Davis’ Foe alongside Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, in Clement Virgo’s Brother, and in Jenkins’ award-winning limited series The Underground Railroad. He is also currently filming Apple TV+’s The Morning Show.
He is represented by WME, Anonymous Content, Hamilton Hodell, Sloane Offer Weber Dern and Narrative.
Lanterns is co-written by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King. The first two episodes will be directed by James Hawes. The series is executive produced by Mundy, Lindelof, King and Hawes, and is based on the DC comic Green Lantern.
It’s HBO’s latest dive into the DC archives: The premium cable network currently has a hit with The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell as the longtime Batman nemesis. The series is a spinoff of Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
Photos courtesy of HBO.