Actor Aaron Pierre‘s superhero résumé might have looked a tad different if he had been cast in James Gunn‘s final Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).
While promoting Creature Commandos at New York Comic-Con, Gunn teased several other upcoming DC Universe projects, including Lanterns, which will center around fan-favorite Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan (played by Pierre and Kyle Chandler, respectively). While Gunn didn’t divulge too many new details about Lanterns at NYCC, he did reveal that he had been a fan of Pierre long before the actor’s breakout role in the 2024 Netflix movie, Rebel Ridge.
“Aaron Pierre is somebody who I’ve wanted to work together with for a long time. People don’t know, but he was almost cast as Adam Warlock,” Gunn revealed during the panel (via Collider).
Teased in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and fully introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Adam Warlock is a powerful artificial being created by the Sovereign to destroy the titular cosmic team, serving as a secondary antagonist in the movie. However, before the end of the movie, Warlock becomes heroically aligned with the Guardians. While it sounds like Pierre was close to landing the role, Adam Warlock was ultimately played by Will Poulter.
Gunn continued to praise Pierre during the DCU presentation, stating, “He’s an amazing actor, and I just really admired him from the beginning of his career. Seeing him read with Kyle was one of those miraculous moments. I don’t care what they’re saying, I just love what they’re saying together.”
What else did James Gunn reveal about Lanterns at NYCC?
Production on Lanterns will be overseen by Chris Mundy, who created the upcoming series with Damon Lindelof and Tom King. While not much is known about Lanterns, Gunn shared at NYCC that, “it’s a very grounded series, a very real series, which is a strange thing to say about a Green Lanterns show. But it’s going to be something like nobody’s ever seen before.”
Lanterns follows “new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland,” per a previously released logline for the DCU series.
The eight-episode series is scheduled to begin filming in January 2025, with production expected to last until June. The first two episodes will be directed by James Hawes, an established television director who has worked on hit series like Snowpiercer, Black Mirror, and Slow Horses.
Lanterns will be released under Chapter 1: Gods & Monsters, which will collect the first half of Gunn’s 10-year vision for the DCU. A release date for the series has not been announced yet by HBO.
