The writers of HBO’s Lanterns changed John Stewart’s backstory after Aaron Pierre was cast in the role, incorporating the actor’s lighter complexion into a storyline in which John’s appearance was considered “more palatable to White people.”
Writer and executive producer Vanessa Baden Kelly revealed the decision during an appearance on The Ringer’s Midnight Boys alongside fellow Lanterns writer Justin Britt-Gibson.
According to Baden Kelly, the writers had already developed aspects of John Stewart’s family history before Pierre was selected to play the Green Lantern. His casting subsequently prompted them to reconsider that material.
“John Stewart is supposed to be a dark-skinned Black man,” Baden Kelly explained. “We are changing that canonically by having Aaron come in, and we need to change that in the writing. We need to find a way to make this make sense.”
Rather than simply accepting Pierre’s appearance as another difference between a comic book character and his live-action counterpart, the writers decided to incorporate his complexion directly into John’s upbringing.
That decision ultimately became part of the explanation for why John was treated differently from his brothers.
John Stewart Became ‘More Palatable to White People’
Baden Kelly explained that she and Britt-Gibson brought their idea to Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy and co-creator Damon Lindelof.
“We brought it to Chris and Damon and they were immediately like, we trust that you guys know your folks. Get busy, do what you have to do,” Baden Kelly recalled.
She then explained what the writers decided to add to John’s story.
“That’s when we baked in this idea that part of his being chosen is because they felt like his particular looks were more palatable to White people,” Baden Kelly said. “And if that is who he was going to have to impress to get this job, he was probably the more likely of the three brothers to be able to do it.”
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That idea became intertwined with the “Chosen” nickname given to John during his childhood.
Episode 3 of Lanterns, appropriately titled “The Chosen,” depicts John growing up under enormous pressure from his parents, who believe he is destined for extraordinary things.
His brothers, meanwhile, experience a markedly different upbringing.
Baden Kelly now says that Pierre’s casting altered this storyline.
“We dealt with it some in three, we deal with it in five, and then you see the outcome of it some in six,” she explained. “But that was changed upon Aaron being cast.”
In other words, at least part of John’s complicated family dynamic was rewritten specifically because the actor selected to play him had a lighter complexion than typically associated with the comic book character.
‘Let’s Write About It’
The writers were also aware that Pierre’s casting could generate discussion among Green Lantern fans.
John Stewart has traditionally been depicted as a dark-skinned Black man, although his precise complexion has naturally varied across more than five decades of comic books, animation, and other media.
According to the writers, they anticipated that some fans would object to Pierre not resembling their conception of the character closely enough.
“We knew when his casting was coming up that there would be people that would say, hey, that’s not my Green Lantern or whatever,” they explained. “So it’s like, let’s write about it.”
A clip from Episode 3 of Lanterns – HBO Max
That decision apparently extended beyond John’s childhood flashbacks.
The writers pointed specifically toward Episode 5 and dialogue about complexion as another example of the series directly engaging with the issue.
“In five we talk about, like, don’t let me come out with darker skin, I’m never going to hear the end of it,” they explained. “Let’s talk about it. We have to.”
They also credited Pierre with being willing to participate in that discussion.
“Credit to Aaron for being game for that, because certain people may not be open to that conversation.”
Race Has Been Central to ‘Lanterns’ All Along
The comments also fit into a much broader picture emerging from Baden Kelly and Britt-Gibson’s discussion of Lanterns.
Baden Kelly previously revealed that the writers discussed “Black exceptionalism” while developing John’s upbringing, citing Tiger Woods and Venus and Serena Williams among their reference points.
During the Midnight Boys interview, she also discussed the writers’ racial conception of Hal Jordan.
Baden Kelly said Hal exhibits “microaggressions” and has “racist tendencies,” which she connected to the character being an older White man from the South. She additionally confirmed that Hal’s controversial “Midwest Huxtable” remark in Episode 3 was intended to carry the racial implications many viewers detected.
Those comments come alongside another revelation from Baden Kelly and Britt-Gibson that contemporary politics influenced the relationship between Hal and John.
The main characters in DC’s Lanterns on HBO – X, @DiscussingFilm
The writers said their discussions about an older Hal confronting a younger successor were amplified by the 2024 political drama surrounding Joe Biden stepping aside and Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
Taken together, the comments provide an unusually candid account of how race, age, contemporary politics, and even the physical appearance of the actors influenced the writers’ approach to two of DC’s most famous Green Lanterns.
In Pierre’s case, that influence was particularly direct.
The actor was cast. The writers concluded his complexion differed from their conception of John Stewart. And instead of ignoring that difference, they rewrote John’s history around it. The result was the idea that this version of John Stewart had an advantage his brothers did not: in the words of Baden Kelly, his “particular looks were more palatable to White people.”
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