Aaron Pierre in the Lanterns finale Image via HBO By Collier Jennings Published Oct 12, 2026, 11:55 PM EDT Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with extensive experience. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy, and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. With his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's tackled a wide variety of articles. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us Summary Generate a summary of this story Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Listen Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Lanterns took the world by storm thanks to its stellar casting and grittier take on the Green Lantern mythos. However, its ace in the hole is Aaron Pierre . Pierre truly brings John Stewart to life, delivering a layered performance that unpacks years of complicated feelings toward his parents and his would-be mentor, Hal Jordan ( Kyle Chandler ). Once Lanterns hits its season finale, John is ready to take up the mantle of Green Lantern, which fans will see more of in next year's Man of Tomorrow . But before he slipped on a Green Lantern ring, Pierre proved his action-hero bona fides by starring in one of Netflix's biggest movies .
That movie is Rebel Ridge , written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier . Rebel Ridge follows Terry Richmond (Pierre) as he travels to Louisiana to bail his cousin Mike out of prison. Unfortunately, local police accost and arrest Terry; to make matters worse, police chief Sandy Burnne ( Don Johnson ) refuses to turn over his bail money and arranges for Mike to be transferred early to a different prison. Burnne and his cronies soon learn the magnitude of their mistake when they discover that Terry's a former Marine who trained heavily in martial arts , making him a living weapon. This simple premise propelled the movie to the top of Netflix's charts, with over 400 million views to date , according to FlixPatrol.
Don Johnson as Chief Sandy Burnne drawing his gun from his belt while facing Aaron Pierre in Rebel Ridge. Image via Netflix From beginning to end, Rebel Ridge hooks viewers with its slowly unfolding mystery and action sequences . With help from Summer McBride ( AnnaSophia Robb ), a courthouse assistant, Terry learns of a conspiracy Burnne and his fellow officers orchestrated . Those officers are willing to do anything to cover up their misdemeanors; when Summer first stumbles upon the conspiracy, Burnne's officers drug her to make her look incompetent. Anyone who's watched Jeremy Saulnier's previous works, particularly Hold the Dark , knows that he can craft a truly gripping thriller, and Rebel Ridge is no exception.
Rebel Ridge 's action sequences also hit hard, in more ways than one. When Terry and Burnne face off early in the movie, Terry quickly disarms the sheriff, using him as a shield while disarming and knocking out the other cops. It's a skillful martial arts display that sets the tone for what's to come in later sequences. Even more surprising is the fact that Terry never kills anyone throughout Rebel Ridge 's runtime, preferring to knock them out or utilize weapons like tear gas instead of gun…