Before Sherman Augustus became known as Lt. Col. Jack Sullivan in the Netflix smash series Stranger Things or Nathaniel Moon in the woefully underrated dystopian AMC series Into the Badlands, he had aspirations to be in the NFL. In 1984, he was on pace as he played with the Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers until a horrendous knee injury sidelined him for good.
To be an actor, one should be able to channel feelings deep within one's psyche. There's something almost superhuman about that, which is fitting because now he will be the father of one: Green Lantern John Stewart, in DC Studios' and HBO's much-anticipated series Lanterns.
Based on casting news, it's clear that Lanterns will delve into origins in several phases. Sherman Augustus will play John Stewart, Sr., but so will J. Alphonse Nicholson, at a much younger age. The Deadline article shared Augustus will play Stewart's father "and the human embodiment of stubborn."
The role requires someone who can "fixate on the past and what could have been." Understanding canon, this could describe both Stewart men, yet their history will foretell the mythos of this role and why having a powerful man like Augustus as John Senior matters so much.
When John Stewart first appeared in the 1971's Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87, it was clear he was not a typical consideration for a Lantern. The story "Beware My Power" should have been a warning. One of his first assignments as Hal Jordan's backup (because Guy Gardner [Hello, Nathan Fillion] was too beaten up and needed to heal) was to protect a racist politician. He succeeded, but Stewart also got the politician in jail for some of his foibles.
By the 1980s, DC was finally ready to commit to the sporadic superhero in their pages. He ditched the mask because he was too proud not to do that (something he learned from his father, no less) and became the permanent Green Lantern for Sector 2814. This former Marine is now the peacekeeper of the universe. People join the military for one of three reasons—nationalism, seeking a second chance, or fulfilling a family promise.
Seeing how Augustus already has experience as a lieutenant colonel, it seems like being typecast has its advantages.
Earlier this year, Vanity Fair ran a profile article on showrunner Chris Mundy, who notes the reason for both Hal Jordan and John Stewart in the show is Hal is the "seasoned Lantern approaching retirement" who is training John to be his replacement. That's when this squirrely Nebraska murder leads them to still darker mysteries, as well as reckonings."
""I was drawn by the challenge and fun of creating something really grounded inside this big, amazing mythology," Mundy shared. "From the beginning, all we talked about was how can we take all the things we loved about the source material and turn it into a layered, human HBO drama? Just the idea of trying to pull that off was exciting to me."Chris Mundy, showrunner for Lanterns
DC Studios and HBO's series Lanterns is from Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, based on the beloved DC Comic franchise Green Lantern. The synopsis follows two new recruits, John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.
Also cast in the eight-episode series have been J. Alphonse Nicholson (a younger John Stewart, Sr.), Poorna Jagannathan (Zoe), Ulrich Thomsen (Sinestro), Jason Ritter (Billy Macon), and Kelly Macdonald (Sheriff Kerry).