DC Studios and HBO are hitting the final casting stages on their much-publicised Lanterns series, with Aaron Pierre and Stephan James reportedly in the mix to play fan favourite hero John Stewart.
Damson Idris was previously a favourite to play the hero, but is no longer being considered due to scheduling conflicts. The casting of Hal Jordan was announced recently, to be played by Emmy winner Kyle Chandler.
Aaron Pierre was most recently seen in Rebel Ridge and M. Night Shyamalan’s Old, after first gaining recognition for his role as Dev-Em in the sci-fi series Krypton. He also voiced Mufasa in Barry Jenkins’ upcoming Mufasa: The Lion King. Stephan James, meanwhile, made his name in another of Jenkins’ works. He starred in If Beale Street Could Talk, before going on to Homecoming, 21 Bridges, and this year’s The Piano Lesson.
Lanterns is described as having a gritty, True Detective vibe as it focuses on Jordan reluctantly mentoring a younger Lantern, John Stewart. The story sees the two characters investigating an Earth-bound murder with larger implications. Hailing from Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen) and comics writer Tom King, Lanterns scored a straight-to-series order this summer after years trapped in development hell. The three are co-writing and exec producing the series.
As we reported at the time: “The news comes after an almost five-year-long development process at HBO Max, as they were originally developing the series with producer Greg Berlanti, the mastermind of the DC Arrowverse on The CW and one of the writers on the ill-fated, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively-starring 2011 Green Lantern feature film. Initially, the series was going to centre on Guy Gardner and Alan Scott, with Seth Grahame-Smith coming aboard as writer and showrunner, even writing a full season’s worth of scripts for the show.
“With a creative overhaul in 2022, however, Grahame-Smith’s vision was scrapped and the powers that be chose to refocus the series around John Stewart, another member of the Lantern Corps and the first Black superhero to appear in DC Comics.
