Kyle Chandler And Aaron Pierre Are HBO’s 'Lanterns' As Series Rings Its First Director
Kyle Chandler And Aaron Pierre Are HBO’s 'Lanterns' As Series Rings Its First Director
Chandler will play a more seasoned Hal Jordan while Pierre plays a more rookie John Stewart
Beware their power. HBO and DC Studios’s Lanterns, the Green Lantern series of the new DC Universe has found its stars in Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan. When Pierre’s casting was announced Chandler’s was winding down and expected to close, doing so just hours later.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn, who originally announced the series in January 2023 with nine other projects that make up the first “Gods & Monsters” chapter of the new DC Universe, confirmed the casting and proved just how done the deal was, posting to his socials “Welcome to DC, Aaron Pierre. After a long and grueling series of auditions I am absolutely sure we’ve found an incredible John Stewart.” Stephan James, who is currently on the festival circuit with The Piano Lesson and starred in the 2016 Jesse Owens biopic Race, was reportedly the other front runner. Confirming Chandler in the late afternoon after the trades got ahold, Gunn wrote on Threads “You’ve been asking for a while. Well now (and just now!) it’s official. Welcome to the DCU, Kyle Chandler, our Hal Jordan. 💚”
When initially describing the series, Gunn and co-chairman and co-CEO Peter Safran said “John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC’s most compelling characters, and Lanterns brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU.” In June, when HBO officially picked up the series originally set to be a Max-exclusive, they released the series logline, which describes Stewart as the new recruit paired with Lantern legend Jordan, and they are “two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.”
Pierre is no stranger to superhero media, playing Dev-Em, a former commander in the Kryptonian army, and Lyta's ex-betrothed in the days of Kal-El’s grandfather on the Syfy series Krypton. He was also attached to earlier versions of the MCU Blade film, which still hasn’t started filming after moving on from him. His breakout is arguably happening right now, as he stars in the Jeremy Saulnier-directed Rebel Ridge, which has been the top movie on Netflix for its first three weeks. He is also voicing Mufasa in Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: Lion King prequel. On TV, he recently joined the cast of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show for its currently-filming fourth season. Recently starring as Malcolm X in the MLK/X season of the National Geographic series Genius, his credits also include the film Foe alongside Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, Brother, and Jenkins’ limited series The Underground Railroad.
Chandler, an Emmy winner for playing Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights, started his series regular roles with Homefront on ABC, before gaining acclaim as Gary Hobson on CBS’s Early Edition, which ran for four seasons. Since FNL he starred on Netflix’s Bloodline and Showtime’s Super Pumped. His murder as Mitch McLusky in the pilot of Paramount+’s Mayor of Kingstown jumpstarts the plot. On film, he’s been in the the two most recent King Kong continuities, as Bruce Baxter in Peter Jackson’s 2005 film and Mark Russell in Legendary’s current Monsterverse, namely Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong. His other films include Super 8, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Carol, Manchester by the Sea, and Game Night. Josh Brolin was previously in talks, but those broke down, as he told ComicBook, and even gave some praise Chandler’s way as his negotiations had recently been reported “You know what? Green Lantern didn’t work out, but that’s okay. It’s working out. Who is it going to be, Kyle Chandler? I love him as an actor, I think he’s wonderful, actually. And, you know, we’ll see what’s down the line, man.”
As for directors, veteran James Hawes, who recently racked up episodes of the Gary Oldman-starring Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, has been tapped for the first two episodes. His previous work includes tense thrillers like Penny Dreadful, the 2017 TV adaptation of The Mist which aired on Spike, TNT’s The Alienist and Snowpiercer, and Black Mirror. He made his feature directorial debut last year with One Life, starring Anthony Hopkins as Nicholas “Nicky” Winton, the British man who saved hundreds of children in World War II.
The eight-episode Lanterns series comes from showrunner Chris Mundy, previously of Ozark, and co-writers and executive producers Damon Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen) and Tom King, whose Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow book is the basis of the Universe’s second movie. Hawes also executive produces. Lanterns is currently set to film from January to June in Atlanta. Its release is positioned after the second season of Peacemaker, which won’t premiere until after Superman releases in July. The film will introduce the Lantern Corps into the universe thanks to the debut of Green Lantern Guy Gardner, played by Nathan Fillion.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline (1, 2) ComicBook, James Gunn on Threads (1, 2)