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Aaron Pierre has joined the cast of HBO’s Lanterns, Warner Bros announced on Wednesday (October 9).

Based on the DC comics of the same name, “the series follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland,” per an official logline.

Pierre will play Stewart, while a casting for Jordan has not yet been announced; although, Deadline reports that Kyle Chandler is being eyed for the role.

Pierre’s casting comes a month after he won over audiences in Netflix’s Rebel Ridge. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room), the film follows a former Marine (Pierre) who confronts corruption in a small town when local law enforcement unjustly seizes the bag of cash he needs to post his cousin’s bail. Don Johnson stars as a corrupt lawman.

After its September 6 premiere, viewers quickly took to social media to question why the British actor wasn’t already one of Hollywood’s leading men.

“Am I allowed to say a star is born? Is that hyperbole?” one fan questioned on X. “It sure doesn’t feel like it given Pierre’s undeniable charisma and the force he commands on screen. There’s something about Pierre in this film that I think will draw the attention of many viewers. He’s the foundation of Rebel Ridge & allows this film to thrive.”

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Born in London in 1994, Pierre made his screen debut in 2017 in ITV’s Prime Suspect 1973. He has since appeared in Amazon Prime Video’s The Underground Railroad TV adaptation and M Night Shyamalan’s Old (2021).

He voices the digitally animated lead of Mufasa: The Lion King, which arrives on December 20 this year.

Lanterns is being made by Ozark’s Chris Mundy, Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof and comic book writer Tom King.

James Gunn and Peter Safran, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of DC Studios, said of the series: “We’re thrilled to bring this seminal DC title to HBO with Chris, Damon and Tom at the helm. John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC’s most compelling characters, and LANTERNS brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU we’re launching next summer with Superman.”

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This isn’t the first time that a live-action Green Lantern story has been brought to screens. Hal Jordan was infamously portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in 2011’s widely derided Green Lantern.

Directed by Martin Campbell, the film became one of the biggest box office bombs in movie history. It grossed just $219m (£182m) from a $200m (£166m) budget and received scathing reviews.

Speaking at the 2023 Just For Laughs comedy festival in London’s O2 Arena, Reynolds told Q&A host Rob Delaney his reaction to seeing the film for the first time.

Reynolds said: “The words were ‘holy s***’ and ‘no, no!’”

He continued: “It was crazy. It was an odd feeling. It was not a feeling I wanted to repeat. So I really spent the following years just owning as much as I could, it was the only way to kind of process it.”

MARRIED At First Sight groom Adam Nightingale has been slammed by his wife Polly Sellman’s furious best friend.

In a sneak peek clip, Polly’s pal can be seen laying into Adam and telling him he was “p***ed off” with the way he treated her on their wedding day.

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Fans will remember how Adam failed to compliment Polly at the alter and instead remained silent.

He then told the cameras she is “not his usual type”, adding: “10 out of 10 for me would be petite, brunette, dark features, tanned…

“She’s not what I expected.”

But Adam is now living to regret his mean comments after he was visited for dinner by Polly’s male friend, who had given her away.

When asked how living together was going, Adam says to his new wife: “The only thing I think would annoy you is how I word things.”

Polly’s friend asks: “What do you mean by that? Because to be honest, I was p***ed off at the wedding.

“I’d just walked my mate down the aisle. She gets married and then this guy’s like, ‘Yeah, she’s not really my type’.

“You’re like, ‘I’m real brunette’. That did upset me.”

Polly and Adam did not get off to the best start and they are tirelessly trying to work through their differences on the E4 show.

Along with making it clear that Polly is not his usual ‘type’, he has questioned whether he is sexually attracted to her – despite having consummated the wedding night.

The Megan-Fox appreciator previously told the experts in front of the other couples: “When I look into Polly’s eyes, I don’t think ‘I really want to kiss you!’”

Polly, meanwhile, had been single for seven months and says she has been in a ‘bunch of s*** relationships’. Her longest romance, however, was six years.

It is not known whether Polly and Adam are still together following the experiment, as both are remaining tight-lipped on social media.

But in a Q&A with fans, careers adviser Polly admitted Adam had threatened to walk out if she was to break wind in front of him.

“Yeah it is normal, but I wasn’t allowed to fart because he said it was disgusting and he’d leave,” she said.

Meanwhile, away from her own marriage, Polly has caused her own drama on MAFS and has been accused of trying to sabotage another relationship.

During a dinner party, she took Charlie Curtis to one side and accused her of being a “bully” towards her wife Eve Reid.

In a statement to viewers, she wrote on social media: “Hey guys… Please remember to keep an open mind with things on TV.

“We saw a lot of Eve most days and nights as she was always with one of us, and Charlie hardly ever while we were in the apartments.

“Naturally being closer with one party you do believe what someone’s saying to you about their partner if they’re nowhere to be seen and you haven’t spoke to them about anything.

“It’s really upsetting to see how blindsided we all were with this situation but please know I (and the other girls) did apologise profusely to Charlie and we are all good and speak daily.”

• Married At First Sight continues at 9pm tonight on E4

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Rock legend Gene Simmons has infuriated Dancing with the Stars viewers, who found his comments directed at many of the female celebrities and dancers to be “misogynistic” and “creepy.”

The co-founder and co-lead singer of rock band Kiss, 75, was welcomed as the celebrity guest judge on Tuesday’s (October 8) episode of the ABC reality dance competition series.

Sitting among the panel of judges, Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough, Simmons took turns chiming in to provide feedback to the contestants after their routines.

However, he seemed to focus a lot of his attention and praise on the contestants’ physical attributes.

Speaking to 24-year-old actor and singer Chandler Kinney following her Jive with partner Brandon Armstrong, Simmons quipped: “Chandler, you fogged up my glasses.

“You moved me, not with your gyrations… but your beautiful face and how you were into the emotion of it – top to bottom,” the “See You Tonite” singer said before directing his attention to Armstrong, saying: “You’re pretty good too.”

Earlier in the night, a shirtless Danny Amendola performed the Paso Doble with his partner Whitney Carson.

“This is a brand new experience for me,” Simmons said, “and it’s difficult to look at both of you and to figure out which one is more hot, hot, hot.”

When fellow judge Tonioli tried to suggest that he could go “both ways,” Simmons wagged his finger while insisting: “No, no, no.”

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He instead continued to tell Amendola: “You are right next to somebody – one of the more beautiful women on the planet – she makes you look good.”

Elsewhere in the episode, he referred to Family Matters alum Reginald VelJohnson’s dance partner Emma Slater as “a beautiful woman” who can “twist and turn it and knows how to move it and all that.”

During and after the night’s episode, several viewers took to X to express their anger at Simmons’ comments, with one writing: “Can we get Gene Simmons off the stage immediately pls i cannot take these misogynistic comments.”

“Gene Simmons is seriously sucking all the energy out of the ballroom with his creepy comments about the female dancers,” a second agreed.

A third said: “Hey gene! just wanna remind you that this is a dancing show, NOT a beauty contest. respectfully never come back pls and thank you #DWTS.”

“Gene Simmons hitting on every breathing woman in that damn ballroom,” a fourth tweeted, alongside a gif of Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller angrily saying: “I’ve had it, enough.”

Another argued that he made “the worst guest judge on Dancing with the Stars,” with another calling on ABC to “issue an apology after having Gene Simmons on there and subjecting their cast to that. Why didn’t a producer tell him to knock it off?”

The Independent has contacted ABC and Simmons’ representative for comment.

The fourth week of the competition ended in another double elimination, sending both VelJohnson and actor Eric Roberts home.

Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays on ABC at 8pm with episodes available to stream on Hulu the next day.