Why John Stewart Was Really Chosen as a Green Lantern, According to ‘Lanterns’ Stars

Lanterns Episode 3 “OutKast” fills in John Stewart’s (Aaron Pierre) history and reveals that becoming a Green Lantern wasn’t some random twist of fate. His parents spent most of his childhood preparing him for it. His sacrifices were great, and his resentment against Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) is deep. It took him a lifetime to become a man who is not afraid. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Lanterns Episode 3 “OutKast.”

John Stewart’s father was almost a Green Lantern

In 2016, John arrives at an abandoned mall for an interview with a Guardian (Laura Linney), one of the ruling beings of the cosmos and founders of the Green Lantern Corps. As she questions him about his past, we learn that the Corps originally approached John’s father, Marine Sergeant John Stewart Sr. (J. Alphonse Nicholson), decades earlier. John Sr. failed their test because, well, he was terrified. Having aliens contact a person out of the blue, without context, can indeed be terrifying. It becomes an event that haunts him for years.

When Hal’s Green Lantern later becomes a public figure, John Sr. is so jealous and angry that he shoots the television. His wife, Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones), believes his story about being tested was some sort of waking nightmare and now wants a divorce. Their marriage is hanging by a thread.

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Why John Stewart’s Parents Raised Him to Be Fearless

When a Guardian later visits the Stuart household, the being meets Bernadette to give her a diamond for the “trouble” they caused (i.e., traumatizing John Sr.). She confirms that John Sr.’s experience was real. Bernadette then challenges the Guardians and their testing methods, stating that the fairness of testing a Black man on whether he feels fear when he faces it every day on Earth. “Even in space you don’t consider us?” Bernadette explains. When the Guardian suggests whatever the ring saw in John Sr. could be passed down, John’s parents decide to raise their son John to be fearless. No matter what.

For Aaron Pierre, that moment speaks to the way Lanterns uses John’s story to explore larger real-world experiences without losing sight of the people at the center of them.

“I think what the writers — and I must really use this opportunity to celebrate and champion the writers, from Chris [Mundy] to Damon [Lindelof] to Tom [King] to Vanessa [Baden Kelly], and the list goes on — managed to do throughout this series is discuss undeniably important topics that need to be discussed and explored,” Pierre said to TV Insider. “They did it in a way that allows those who have that exact experience to feel seen, heard, respected, understood, and comprehended. And for those whose experience it isn’t, they give an abundance of access points for them to comprehend it enough to experience empathy. That way, we can all metaphorically and literally, as it were, lock arms in finding solutions to these very real experiences that happen in the world today.”

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Bernadette tells John Sr. that they can’t raise their three boys believing fear determines what they can become. So, the couple reconciles and decides to condition John to live without fear, essentially making him everything Hal Jordan isn’t and everything the Guardians saw in his father. They know John may eventually hate them for it. Their answer? “So be it.”

And with that understanding, John’s training begins.

John Stewart’s Green Lantern Training Begins

From this point on, John’s childhood becomes one long training exercise. His parents isolate him from his brothers, put him in frightening situations, and push him to prove he can overcome fear. On John’s fifth birthday, his parents tell him about his destiny and give him a Green Lantern uniform. His childhood becomes training. He sleeps separately from his brothers, attends a different school, and is told that birds are watching over him. His brothers begin to resent him.

The tests only become more extreme. As a child, John asks his father to shoot an apple off his head like William Tell to prove he isn’t afraid. At 8 or 9, his parents leave him in a bad neighborhood and force him to find his own way home. When he finally makes it back, crying, nobody comforts him.

When John is around 10, and the Guardians still haven’t returned, Bernadette tells him that sometimes a Black man has to “raise his own hand” and make himself seen. He ultimately shoots an apple off his mother’s head to prove he isn’t afraid.

Speaking to TV Insider, Jasmine Cephas Jones and J. Alphonse Nicholson explained how John’s parents’ determination to prepare him for his future is also rooted in their own experiences with fear, trauma, and power.

“I think Bernadette has this determination to train John so young,” Jones said. “She really wants to get her power back because I think some power has been lost in the beginning of this episode through John’s traumatic experience. He’s gone through something really, really tough, and this is a way, I think, she looks at it as some healing, but also a drive to create a superhero that’s her son.”

“For me, I think John Sr. completely removes himself from it,” Nicholson said. “He realizes that this is his son’s opportunity now, and he has to show up for him for him to take advantage of that opportunity. But there’s also a part of John who doesn’t want his son to be involved in this at all. He’s like, ‘Listen, I don’t want him to go down this journey. Regardless of what my dream was, regardless of what came to me about being a Green Lantern, I don’t want him to experience the hardships of that.’ But once he gets past that, I think it’s a beautiful journey with him and Bernadette and how they work as a team to make this happen, despite the fears they have to overcome themselves.”

“I think it’s a very personal journey for both of them,” Jones said. “When you go that far in terms of the training and then don’t hear from the Guardians for a really, really long time, it’s almost like you have to double down. I think that’s kind of what happens with Bernadette as you see more of the episode. At the same time, she’s still showing love, still explaining why, still making sure you know that these are really hard decisions and that they’re affecting them, especially Bernadette, because she’s a mother first and he’s a father first. It’s a fine line, but I think it works out in the end.”

How Hal Jordan Changed John Stewart’s Life

John eventually follows his father into the Marines, becoming a Sergeant Major and an exceptional sniper. But during a mission targeting Grey Wolf, Arkadv Petrov, Hal Jordan intervenes, grabs the target, and torches the compound. Because the United States wasn’t supposed to be there, John has to be the fall guy, taking a dishonorable discharge so the government can save face.

Basically, Hal screwed him over.

John returns home angry and lost, but Bernadette gives him a new path: Art school. “The path hasn’t changed; this is just a detour,” she tells him.

How John Stewart Finally Becomes a Green Lantern

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At art school, John signs up for an evaluation that requires him to sketch objects from memory. Instead, he is presented with a Green Lantern ring and asked to manifest his father’s watch. He does it. It is the first of several tests. “We have been watching your progress,” he is told before being sent to the interview they have been preparing him for all along.

The episode then circles back to the mall. And it is there he meets The Guardian.

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The Guardian lays out the reality of John’s life: Hal Jordan helped destroy his career and, indirectly, fractured his family, yet John holds no ill will toward him. She asks whether John would be comfortable replacing Hal, knowing Hal will view him as nothing more than his backup.

He passes.

John Stewart is going to be a Green Lantern.

But before John can even tell his parents, Hal is already at their house. Once they leave, Hal makes it very clear that he doesn’t want a sidekick, protégé, or replacement. He tells John, “The only way you are going to get this ring is over my dead body.”

A choice of words that is particularly ominous.

Lanterns, Sundays, 8/7c, HBO Max