HBO's DC series Lanterns delved into John Stewart's backstory in its third episode, "OutKast," revealing that his father, John Stewart Sr., was originally approached by the Guardians to become a Green Lantern decades before his son but failed the test, leaving him traumatised. The episode reframes the show's focus, moving away from Hal Jordan and John Stewart's present-day investigation to explore how this early failure shaped the Stewart family and set John on the path to inheriting the ring himself.

Actors J. Alphonse Nicholson and Jasmine Cephas Jones, who play John's parents, spoke to Collider about how the trauma drove Bernadette Stewart to rigorously train her young son to be fearless in the hope the Guardians would one day recognise his potential. They discussed a pivotal scene in which Bernadette challenges a Guardian over the racial dimension of testing a black man's courage, and explained how John Sr.'s sense of failure and lingering fear influenced the family's approach to raising John, who was later dishonourably discharged from the Marines before eventually being chosen as a Green Lantern himself.