Aaron Pierre's John Stewart was confirmed for James Gunn's Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, back in March, months before Lanterns even premiered, let alone wrapped its eight-episode season. Fans naturally assumed the show's creators were in on that plan from the jump, but according to the series' showrunner, Gunn initially didn't tell them John would appear in the sequel. The character is positioned to be the DCU's main Lantern after the HBO series fleshed out his story and made some notable changes to his comic book lore.
Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy made the admission during an appearance on The Midnight Boys podcast, getting into the nitty-gritty of the series and what informed some of its most critical decisions, especially how it introduced John Stewart to the DCU. Asked if he knew John would end up in Man of Tomorrow, Mundy candidly admitted, "not initially":
"At a certain point, we did. Not initially when we were right in the pilot and started in the room, but we knew that part of our job was to launch John as a character and we know that world exists. So, we're not dumb. We can do that."
Mundy went on to explain how they set John up for his theatrical debut while still wrapping the story they were telling on Lanterns, saying they "didn't need to tweak anything":
"Really, we just tried to end our story and then say, 'Here he is. Go with God. And if there's any problem with it, let us know if we need to tweak anything,' but we didn't need to tweak anything. But it was really just like, OK, trust that we created hopefully a character that's a 360-degree character. And then, it's storytelling. It's like, OK, your turn. I want to watch. I want to watch that."
Although Mundy and his team didn't initially know John Stewart would appear in Man of Tomorrow, they did a masterful job of setting up his DCU future in the Lanterns finale. In that episode, John solved the murder of his mentor, Hal Jordan, who was shot by Sheriff Kerry Kane in a moment of panic after realizing Hal had uncovered her son's secret. With Guy Gardner's help, John recovered Hal's ring, charging it from a fear-infused Dark Lantern he acquired from Sinestro before declaring himself an independent Green Lantern and taking flight for the first time in the series.
How Will John Stewart Factor Into Man of Tomorrow and the DCU's Future?
John Stewart appearing in Man of Tomorrow is a decision most fans have embraced. The bigger question is what Gunn has planned for him, both in the film and beyond it. In Lanterns, the Green Lantern proved himself formidable, armed with immense willpower that impressed even a hard-nosed veteran like Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan.
Man of Tomorrow's big bad is the iconic Superman villain Brainiac, an alien android from the planet Colu with a twelfth-level intellect, played by Lars Eidinger. Brainiac is one of the most powerful villains in DC Comics, a collector of shrunken, bottled cities and a threat David Corenswet's Superman cannot face alone.
The Man of Steel is forming an uneasy alliance with Lex Luthor to challenge Brainiac, and even that may not be enough. Bringing a powerful Green Lantern like John into the mix would be a big boost to the hero lineup.
The movie already feels like a pseudo Justice League movie, especially with Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner also aboard, and involving John Stewart is likely Gunn's way of formally introducing his ideal Justice League roster before bringing an actual Justice League film to theaters.
Fans are also clamoring for a Green Lantern film after how well Lanterns performed for HBO, with the series reportedly averaging 19 million viewers per episode. John Stewart's display in Man of Tomorrow could be an even bigger audition, one that brings the franchise back to theaters for the first time since Ryan Reynolds' 2011 Green Lantern film failed to impress audiences.
That movie bombed with critics and at the box office, grossing roughly $220 million worldwide on a $200 million budget, and it killed the planned franchise it was supposed to launch. If Man of Tomorrow does great when it arrives on July 9, 2027, John could be the Lantern who finally erases that memory.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
