"The oath is taken."
That's what Tyrese said on Instagram beneath a fan manip image showing a duo of Green Lanterns with a movie dated for 2020. Don't take my word for it:
This certainly lines up with the rumors that the Green Lantern reboot will focus on multiple Lanterns from Sector 2184, and Tyrese has been vocal about wanting this role. Maybe he got it.
But here's the thing: I think Tyrese is so wrong for John Stewart it's not even funny. Or rather, he's so funny that he's wrong for John Stewart. Stewart, a Marine vet and a successful architect, is a man with real dignity and depth. He's a serious-minded guy, one who chafes at authority. In fact if you want to know which iterations of Hal Jordan and John Stewart are "mine" you have to go back to Stewart's initiation to the Green Lantern Corps - Jordan spoke out against making Stewart a Lantern because the black guy from Detroit in the 1970s had a problem with authority. Gosh, where could he have picked up what Jordan called "a chip on his shoulder the size of Gibraltar"? That defines these characters for me - Hal Jordan, the man happy to serve his masters and Stewart, an angry but not hot-headed guy looking for real justice.
Can Tyrese do that? I like Tyrese, but the character of Roman in the Fast and Furious movies feels right for him - light and funny, a silly sidekick. John Stewart is not that. And if - BIG IF - Chris Pine is Hal Jordan, what does their chemistry look like? Is this just 2 Fast 2 Furious all over again? Is Tyrese HONGRY for the role?
I'm willing and happy to be proven wrong, but Tyrese is almost the opposite of what I would be looking for in a John Stewart. If it were me doing the casting I would be going after Common, who was a revelation to me in Selma. Sadly he's already in Suicide Squad.
I think Green Lantern and the Green Lantern Corps are two of the concepts in the DC canon that translate best to modern scifi blockbuster action, but Warner Bros already screwed that pooch once. Will they get it right this time? Maybe outside the box casting like Tyrese could be the answer.