Before Lanterns, Netflix’s Rebel Ridge Showed Why Aaron Pierre Was the Perfect John Stewart

Aaron Pierre’s casting as John Stewart in Lanterns already feels like a natural fit after the series’ premiere. But the clearest evidence that Pierre could carry the role came well before he put on the Green Lantern uniform.

In 2024, Pierre led Jeremy Saulnier’s Netflix action thriller Rebel Ridge as Terry Richmond, a former Marine who finds himself caught in a web of small-town corruption. The film earned a 95% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site’s consensus specifically praising Pierre’s star-making performance.

What makes Rebel Ridge especially relevant to Lanterns is the kind of hero Pierre plays. Terry is physically imposing and highly capable, but he is also controlled, observant and reluctant to use violence unless he has no other choice. Those qualities make his performance an unusually strong preview of what Pierre can bring to John Stewart.

Terry Richmond Has the Discipline John Stewart Needs

At first glance, Terry Richmond could seem like another seemingly unstoppable action hero. He is a former Marine with extensive combat training, and the film makes it clear early on that he is more than capable of handling the people who stand in his way.

Yet Terry does not rush toward a fight.

After arriving in Shelby Springs to post bail for his cousin, Terry is pulled into a confrontation with local law enforcement after his money is unjustly seized. Rather than immediately responding with force, he looks for legal ways to resolve the situation. He understands exactly what he is capable of, which is precisely why he exercises such careful restraint.

That quality is central to Pierre’s performance. Terry’s confidence never needs to become loud or theatrical. His stillness communicates that he is always assessing the situation and thinking several steps ahead.

Pierre brings much of that same controlled intensity to John Stewart in Lanterns. John is a former Marine who is training to become a Green Lantern, and the series initially emphasizes his humanity and discipline rather than immediately turning him into a spectacle. The first episode gives viewers only a limited sense of what he can eventually do with the ring, leaving plenty of room for his abilities to develop.

That makes Pierre’s performance in Rebel Ridge particularly revealing. He had already demonstrated that he could make a restrained, physically formidable character compelling without relying on constant action.

Rebel Ridge Turns a Familiar Action Setup Into Something More Grounded

The premise of Rebel Ridge initially sounds familiar. A highly capable stranger enters a small town, crosses paths with corrupt authorities and gradually reveals that he is far more dangerous than they expected.

That setup naturally invites comparisons to films such as First Blood and characters such as Jack Reacher. But Saulnier deliberately avoids rushing Terry into a conventional revenge story.

The movie spends considerable time building tension before unleashing its action. Terry tries to navigate the legal system, and the audience gradually learns more about his military background and why the local police are making a serious mistake by underestimating him.

When Terry finally begins using his combat skills, his approach remains consistent with the character established earlier. He is not looking for an excuse to hurt people. His priority is to control escalating situations and protect himself and others while using force as carefully as possible.

Netflix describes Terry as an ex-Marine with a rigid set of principles whose attempt to help his cousin pulls him into a conspiracy involving the town’s law enforcement.

That combination of restraint and capability gives Rebel Ridge its distinctive identity. The movie borrows familiar Western and action-thriller conventions, but it keeps its violence grounded and purposeful. Instead of making Terry invincible simply for the sake of spectacle, Saulnier makes his training part of the tension. The audience knows what Terry can do long before he is willing to do it.

Pierre’s Screen Presence Fits John Stewart

Pierre’s physical presence is another important part of why the comparison works.

Saulnier originally wanted an actor who could combine youth and physicality with intelligence and emotional depth. Netflix’s account of the casting process notes that Pierre stands at 6 feet 3 inches and that Saulnier initially worried he might be too imposing for the role. After speaking with him, however, the director quickly became convinced that Pierre was the right choice.

That presence carries over naturally to Lanterns.

Pierre does not need to dominate every scene through exaggerated gestures or constant displays of power. He can simply stand in a room and command attention. That quality is particularly useful for John Stewart, a character whose authority should come from discipline and conviction as much as from the abilities granted by his ring.

The first episode of Lanterns establishes John alongside Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, as the two investigate a fatal shooting that may have extraterrestrial origins.

For now, John’s full potential as a Green Lantern remains largely untapped. That restraint works in Pierre’s favor. His performance suggests that the character can become increasingly impressive as John grows more comfortable with the ring and the responsibilities that come with it.

Rebel Ridge Already Gave Pierre a Neo-Western Action Hero

There is another reason Rebel Ridge feels like such an appropriate companion piece to Lanterns: both projects place Pierre inside grounded stories that borrow heavily from Western traditions.

Rebel Ridge takes the familiar mysterious-stranger setup and places it in a contemporary small town. Terry arrives with a straightforward goal, only to discover that the local authorities are far more corrupt than he expected.

The movie gradually transforms that situation into a tense confrontation between one disciplined outsider and a system that assumes it has all the power.

That approach keeps the action from becoming excessive. Terry’s military training matters because the film establishes the consequences of every confrontation. His ability to fight is never treated as an excuse to abandon caution.

Lanterns similarly appears interested in bringing its superhero characters down to earth. Rather than immediately presenting John Stewart as a fully formed cosmic hero, the series places him within a mystery involving ordinary people and a rural Nebraska community. The result is a version of Green Lantern that has more in common with a grounded detective story than a traditional superhero adventure.

That overlap makes Pierre’s transition from Terry Richmond to John Stewart feel especially convincing.

Could Pierre Also Be the Right Choice for a Classic Western?

Pierre’s work in Rebel Ridge and Lanterns also makes another potential role easier to imagine: the mysterious gunslinger at the center of A Fistful of Dollars.

A remake of Sergio Leone’s 1964 Western has been in development since 2024, with Gianni Nunnari and Simon Horsman’s Euro Gang Entertainment partnering with FCP’s Enzo Sisti and Jolly Film, the production company behind the original. No casting had been announced when the project was reported, and production details remained limited.

The role would require a very different character from John Stewart, but there is a clear connection between the archetypes. Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name became famous for saying little while projecting an unmistakable sense of control and danger.

Pierre has already shown that he can play a similarly reserved figure. Terry Richmond rarely needs to announce his abilities because his behavior makes them apparent. John Stewart, meanwhile, carries himself with the discipline expected of someone trained to confront extraordinary threats.

Pierre is also around 6 feet 3 inches tall, giving him the physical presence needed for a Western lead of that scale.

None of this makes him a confirmed choice for the A Fistful of Dollars remake. But the combination of his physicality, restraint and ability to command a scene makes the idea easy to understand.

Aaron Pierre Is Building a Strong Action-Hero Identity

The significance of Rebel Ridge becomes even clearer now that Pierre is leading Lanterns.

His first major superhero role is arriving after he has already demonstrated that he can carry a grounded action thriller without turning its protagonist into a caricature. Terry Richmond gave him the opportunity to show how much tension he could create through silence, discipline and controlled physicality.

Lanterns builds on those strengths while adding the scale of a superhero story. John Stewart is now part of the DC Universe, and Pierre is set to continue playing the character in Man of Tomorrow.

That makes Rebel Ridge worth revisiting for anyone watching Pierre as John Stewart. Before he had a Green Lantern ring, he had already shown that he could play the kind of character who rarely needs to prove how dangerous he is.

If Lanterns gives Pierre the opportunity to expand on those qualities, John Stewart could become one of the defining roles of his career. And Rebel Ridge makes it clear that the qualities required for that performance were already there long before Pierre entered the DC Universe.