Who is Aaron Pierre, the revelation of Rebel Ridge?

Seen in The Underground Railroad by Barry Jenkins or Old by M. Night Shyamalan, the actor is impressive in this thriller by Jeremy Saulnier.

We knew Aaron Paul from breaking Badwe will now have to take into account Aaron Pierre of Rebel Ridge. He is “crazy magnetism”writes Première, in the role of Terry Richmond, worthy heir to John Rambo and Jack Reacher: “The argument of Rebel Ridge is not very far from that of Rambo : while he hadn't asked anyone for anything, a former soldier finds himself having to face narrow-minded cops who reign supreme over their little piece of America. The difference is that our neo-John Rambo is black, which changes a lot of things, especially in the eyes of the authorities in Shelby Springs, a small (fictional) town in Louisiana…” (the rest of our review is to be read here).

Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room, No Man or God) offered him this character which fits him like a glove after the withdrawal of another British comedian: John Boyega (hero ofAttack the BlockFinn in Star Wars 7, 8, 9, also seen in Detroitby Kathryn Bigelow) in the middle of filming. He does not regret this change of casting, explaining that from his first contact on Zoom to discuss this thriller for Netflix, he had “felt Aaron would be perfect.”

“I don't want to sound desperate, but I really felt like we needed each other at that moment. The way he presented himself, his immediate involvement, his interest in every detail of this project… It gave me new energy. (…) Now, we could not imagine another actor in this role than Aaron Pierre. He really carries the whole film on his shoulders, he must be in 129 scenes, maybe 135? I promise you that it is not brain juice, he represents the best turning point that we could have experienced on this film. I am not too versed in beliefs, but in this case, it is as if destiny intervened so that Aaron and I work together. We were made to get along, he was always very respectful towards the script, he constantly returned to the text.”

Aaron Pierre in Krypton.

Small screen and big charisma

Rebel Ridge should logically mark a turning point in the career of Aaron Pierre, who is just 30 years old. Since its broadcast last Friday, this thriller has been a hit on Netflix. Viewers of Barry Jenkins' historical series, The Underground Railroad (2021) already knew what a great actor he is, but they were quite few in number. The same goes for fans of English-speaking theatre, who have been able to see him triumph on stage in adaptations of classics – he notably played Cassio in a version ofOthello at the Globe Theatre in London in 2018.

Of The A World has Krypton -Dev-Em was his most important role on screen so far- passing through Britannia or his incarnation of Malcolm X in Genius (2024), he has signed in recent years for some ambitious series. In cinema, he had not yet had the opportunity to shine as much. Briefly visible in old (2021), M. Night Shyamalan's enigmatic thriller, the most important indie dramas Brother (2022) or Foe (2023), alongside Lamar Johnson and Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal respectively, he gets here for the first time the leading role of a bigger production: when John Boyega left this project, its budget was estimated at 25 million dollars.

Aaron Pierre in Old, also with Abbey Lee Kershaw, Rufus Sewell, Vicky Krieps…

As we know, a big success on Netflix can suddenly make a career take off. Will Aaron Pierre follow the same path as Jenna Ortega, who became very popular thanks to Wednesdayor Emma McKay, revealed to the general public with Sex Education ? It would be deserved, as he was so involved in Rebel Ridge : Jeremy Saulnier didn't just give him a leading role, he probably modulated his hero based on his own person, his natural charisma, his killer look and his impressive stature, using his 1.91 meters of muscles in a clever way throughout the film.

Without seeming to, his character, Terry Richmond, breaks all the codes of “action hero” as the story progresses. Were you expecting an ex-Marine who will take malicious pleasure in beating up corrupt police officers? Wrong: he will only fight if he has to. Even once his objective is clearly stated – to get his bail back to get his cousin out of prison – and his past as a close-quarters combat specialist is revealed to the audience, he will do everything to avoid using his fists or weapons. He is fighting for his life, yes, but in a “non-lethal”which will give rise to a scene of anti-shooting original as desired: if he unloads guns, it is in the literal sense, not on his adversaries! No over-exposure of his body either: except to heal a few wounds, his muscles will remain wisely in his t-shirt, and he will not fall into the cliché of the savior with whom a young woman in distress will fall in love. In Rebel Ridgeit is systematically more nuanced than that, Saulnier preferring dialogues and tense exchanges of glances to preconceived ideas. For a devilishly effective result.

Rebel Ridgeand then?

Now that the world is discovering Aaron Pierre, what does he have in store for us? We should have found him in Blade opposite another actor adored by Barry Jenkins, Mahershala Ali, but he finally left the Marvel blockbuster last March, during umpteenth rewrites requested by the studio. He will however be reunited with the filmmaker very soon, and at Disney, since Barry offered him to dub the key character of Mufasa: The Lion King facing Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Scar. Get ready!

We will also find him next year in the new season of The Morning Starthe hit Apple TV+ series starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. For now, these are his only projects “future” on his page IMDbbut there is no doubt that the praise he has received since going online Rebel Ridge will allow him to quickly sign for new leading roles…