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Aaron Pierre reveals the ‘Lanterns’ scene that ‘breaks’ his heart

Aaron Pierre gets candid about the emotional toll of playing John Stewart’s traumatic backstory

Aaron Pierre, who plays John Stewart, has a certain scene from the show that he is particularly fond of talking about. Surprisingly, it is not the ring battles or the alien mystery involving ‘Lanterns.’ It is the part where his character is deceived by his own mother. ‘Lanterns’ Episode 3, ‘OutKast,’ followed John’s childhood, and one scene from it had a particularly profound effect on Pierre. He recalled that in the episode, John’s mother, Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones), tells her son that the Guardians are not satisfied with his training progress, as the birds watching over him reported. John does not take this well, and insists that the birds are lying.

In an interview with Decider, Pierre referred to this scene as one that “breaks my heart” every time he watches it, adding that John “feels betrayed by the birds.” Moreover, he described how John thinks about this. He said, “How could they lie and say that I am not giving everything that I possibly can? I’m having guns aimed at me routinely. An inch south and I’m out of here, I’m out of here! Like how can they say I’m not pouring myself into this?” The actor added, “I think that is what is the beginning of this raging sea that stays with John all the way through his adulthood. And I believe has not — even when the series ends — [it] is still there and he’s still contending with it.”

The reason for this scene, as revealed in the episode, is that the birds did not actually watch over John as he thought. They were only a part of Bernadette’s made-up story to encourage her child to be stronger. Therefore, it is easy to understand John’s rage and the pain resulting from the realization that his mother lied to him all along. In fact, Pierre admitted to TVLine that he could not explore John’s whole psychology, but landed on one word for it: trauma. “I think John has, as many of us do... an immense amount of trauma that is unresolved and internalized,” he said. In addition, he notes that this episode, which recounts the early years of his hero, is significant to him. “It was a gift to have the opportunity to explore each of these characters with such enormous depth,” Pierre said, per Variety. 

According to the comics, John Stewart first appeared in 1971 as an unemployed architect and Marine veteran, recruited by the Guardians of the Universe to serve as a backup to Hal Jordan after Guy Gardner was injured. There was no mention of John’s childhood, parents, or the birds that follow. In fact, none of these elements were present in the original series. ‘Lanterns’ explores characters’ origins to better comprehend their actions and decisions. Now that the series has unveiled John’s childhood and the origin of his trauma, it will be intriguing to see how his further adventures unfold, and how they will differ from the established comics canon. ‘Lanterns’ Episode 4 will air on HBO and HBO Max on September 6.