Summary
- Lanterns cast Nicole Ari Parker as John Stewart’s mother, Bernadette, emphasizing an emotional arc.
- Bernadette’s role in the show may suggest a more grounded approach, raising fan concerns.
- While atypical for superhero narratives, non-hero characters can drive emotional depth in a series.
Lanterns has added another name to its growing cast, and this new star is set to play an important role in the new DCU regardless of the actual scope of their responsibilities in the upcoming show.
It’s been a while since a Green Lantern got a chance to shine in live action, thanks in no small part to the abject failure of the last project that focused on the character. While the Ryan Reynolds version didn’t even make it to the DCEU, the co-leads of Lanterns have been given the vanguard position for shows in James Gunn’s new DCU with much more to come. The project has been hyped up as a grounded adventure that’ll see the two function in their roles as intergalactic police of sorts, a facet of the corps that’s often sidelined in favor of skintights and bright lights.
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Despite the film’s failure, Lanterns’ Jon Stewart intends to reference Green Lantern and use Reynolds’ work as part of his preparation for his own part. Fortunately for fans, someone is coming in with the authority and life experience to stop him from making such bad decisions in-universe. As reported by Variety, Nicole Ari Parker has been cast in the upcoming project to take on the recurring role of John Stewart’s mother, Bernadette. While there are no more details on the character or what her role in the show is, it’s safe to assume that she’ll play an important role in Stewart’s character and support system in the new franchise. The production also released an official character description for Bernadette, which hints at some potential backstory as well as how she’ll motivate and set an example for her son.
Formidable and tenacious, Bernadette refuses to give up, no matter how insurmountable the odds. At her core, she’s a fiercely protective mother who has worked her entire life to ensure that she and her family will not be passed over.
While the character description sounds interesting and Parker will likely do the part justice, the addition of Stewart’s mother to the cast might feed into the growing fan concern that Lanterns will be too grounded. Outside of origin stories, superheroes don’t often have their parents feature heavily in their stories (at least, not if they’re going to live to the end of the storyline), so having a mom hold a recurring role in the series raises a few valid questions. It’s unclear what the thinking is behind the casting choices the show has made, as there’s a lot of ground to cover if you’re going to have Stewart’s mom in a show that already cast an actor to play Thaal Sinestro. On the positive side of things, this could be a move that sets up a major emotional arc for Stewart, or at the very least an indicator that he’ll be well fleshed out.
While Bernadette certainly doesn’t top any fan’s list of things they wanted to see in Lanterns, it might be interesting to see what Gunn and company do with the character in the coming series. Non-hero characters usually serve to drive the emotional core of the story (pun intended) and there’s still a solid chance that this won’t preclude the characters from showing off their powers when the occasion calls for it. For now, fans can look forward to seeing how the role pans out when the show eventually releases.
Lanterns has not announced an official release window at the time of writing.
Lanterns (DCU)
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Aaron Pierre
John Stewart
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