Rebel Ridge star Aaron Pierre joins HBO's Green Lantern series as John Stewart

HBO's The Penguin may be my favorite show currently on the air, which is a little surprising because it's a superhero spinoff TV show and I go in to those worried they're just going to be lazy cash grabs. But HBO is knocking it out of the park with The Penguin, proving that a superhero show can be as gripping as anything else on the network.

That's good news, because there are more shows based on DC Comics coming down the pike. To wit: showrunner Chris Mundy, best known for his work as the showrunner on Ozark, will also serve as showrunner on Lanterns, a show about the Green Lantern Corps. Basically, the Green Lanterns are space cops who protect the galaxy by using magic rings that allow them to manifest their thoughts in physical form. The show is said to be a mystery series with some elements pulled from True Detective, another show Mundy worked on. The central dynamic will be between veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordon, probably the best known Green Lantern so far as comics history goes, and John Stewart, a younger Lantern whom Hal will mentor.

We already know that Hal Jordan will be played by Friday Night Lights veteran Kyle Chandler. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has it that Aaron Pierre will play John Stewart. Pierre's stock as an actor has been steadily rising for years, but it really shot up last month when he played the lead role of Marine Corps veteran Terry Richmond in the action-thriller Rebel Ridge, which was the number one movie on Netflix for three weeks in a row. In December, he'll voice lead character Mufasa in a Lion King prequel movie. Aaron Pierre's time is now, and Lanterns is getting him at the right moment.

John Stewart is also a Marine Corps veteran in the comics, so that's another bit of casting kismit. Stewart been around the DC Universe for decades, but got a boost thanks to a series of animated DC shows in the 2000s, when he was basically the stand-in for the entire Green Lantern corps. In those shows, he was voiced by Phil LaMarr.

That helped John Stewart become one of a few prominent Black superheroes in heavy rotation. It's definitely a good call to make him a big part of this new HBO show, alongside Chandler's Hal Jordon.

In addition to serving as showrunner, Chris Mundy will also write on Lanterns, alongside Lost and Watchmen creator Damon Lindelof as well as Eisner Award-winning comic book writer Tom King. The first season is set to last eight episodes. Lanterns will be the first DC TV show produced after James Gunn and Peter Safran took the reins of DC Studios. There's no release date set yet, but the signs are all looking pretty good. I'm optimistic about this one.

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