‘Lanterns’ Stars Aaron Pierre, Jasmine Cephas Jones on John’s Backstory Episode and How Being Black Informs His Quest to Become Green Lantern: ‘Fear Is Instilled in Our Ancestry’
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Aaron Pierre stars as John Stewart in Episode 3 of HBO's 'Lanterns,' which cuts between John's tense interview with a Guardian (Laura Linney) and flashbacks of his upbringing designed to make him worthy of replacing Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler).
- J. Alphonse Nicholson plays John Stewart Sr., a failed Green Lantern candidate whose own trauma drives him to condition his son through extreme tests, including shooting an apple off his head — motivation Nicholson describes as protecting John from the 'spiral of depression' his father fell into.
- Jasmine Cephas Jones portrays Bernadette, John's mother, who delivers the episode's racial thesis: 'Sometimes, a Black man has to raise his own hand. Doesn't mean you're not good enough, doesn't mean you're not better. It just means they don't see us.'
- Cephas Jones framed John's fearlessness through a racial lens, telling Variety: 'The importance of having no fear in a society, and also being a person of color in this country, fear is instilled in our ancestry as well.'
- The episode's climax arrives when a now-grown John shoots an apple off his mother's head, the moment Nicholson calls John 'taking a step into his own lane' to show fearlessness — the ultimate payoff of his parents' training.
- Pierre singled out child actors Jayce Eiland and Cairo Cash Lee, who play younger versions of John, for delivering 'all of the emotion and beyond that was necessary' despite filming on a separate timeline.
- Pierre said knowing John's full life arc from the start shaped his scenes with Chandler: 'He's had a wealth of life experience, more life experience than people twice, three times his age have even come close.'
Why it matters: By rooting John's Green Lantern candidacy in a Black family's deliberate, painful grooming of a child to exceed where his father fell short, 'Lanterns' makes the cosmic superhero inheritance story a vehicle for commentary on race, parental expectation, and the burden of proving worth in a system that doesn't see you.
Ask SkimNews
