After leading one of the year’s hottest movies in Rebel Ridge, the trajectory of Aaron Pierre’s career has continued to skyrocket considering the recently released news that he’ll be starring in the new DCU show Lanterns as John Stewart, but before he appears in the HBO series, James Gunn has revealed that Pierre almost showed up in one of his earlier MCU projects: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Pierre took on the role of Terry Richmond in the Netflix film that debuted back in September, and it’s a part that many consider to be his breakthrough performance, and one that surely helped nab him the role of Stewart over the other frontrunner, Stephan James.

Gunn was on hand this past weekend at New York Comic Con (via Collider), where he took a moment to disclose that not only has he been a fan of Pierre for a while, but also that he almost cast the actor as Adam Warlock in 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The role ultimately went to Will Poulter, who undoubtedly knocked it out of the universe, but still, it’s fun to imagine what could have been had Pierre donned the cape of the villain-turned-hero instead.

Aaron Pierre is somebody who I’ve wanted to work together with for a long time. People don’t know, but he was almost cast as Adam Warlock. He’s an amazing actor, and I just really admired him from the beginning of his career.

Gunn would go on to mention the upcoming Lanterns, which has cast Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler in the role of Hal Jordan. He remarked that seeing the duo read opposite one another for the first time was a “miraculous moment,” adding: “I don’t care what they’re saying, I just love what they’re saying together.”

James Gunn Explains How Lanterns Will Be Different From Other Superhero Shows

First announced back in June of this year, Lanterns will trace new recruit Stewart and the legendary Jordan as two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. The eight-episode series has set Chris Mundy (True Detective: Night Country) as showrunner, with Damon Lindelof (Watchmen) and DC Comics’ Tom King (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow) on board to executive produce and also co-write.

Related Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow Gets ‘Fantastic’ Update at NYCC James Gunn showed up in The Big Apple with some “fantastic” news.

For Gunn, who is the co-chairperson and co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, he believes that Lanterns is going to be unlike anything else that fans have seen thus far from a superhero show, saying it’s something that he considers “very real.”

“When we first started the DCU, the first couple of weeks of heading this out, we got together with a group of writers, and Tom King was one of those writers, and we were in this room, and we came up with sort of this concept for Lanterns. It’s a very grounded series, a very real series, which is a strange thing to say about a Green Lanterns show. But it’s going to be something nobody’s ever seen before.”

With a description like that – and with Pierre and Chandler on board – we can’t wait to see what Gunn and company have in store for us following the debut of Superman next year. Look for Lanterns to hit HBO at some point in 2026.