Mahershala Ali is currently receiving the benefits of an outstanding 2016. The actor has recently been thrust into the spotlight after a series of great performances have made his name become more well known. For some, Ali is a familiar face after recurring roles in House of Cards and the final two installments of The Hunger Games, but he has received a lot of recognition recently after playing Cottonmouth in Luke Cage and more recently getting awards buzz for his performance in Moonlight.

Because of this recent increase in popularity, fans around the world have begun fan casting Ali in upcoming franchises. One potential franchise for the DC Extended Universe could be Green Lantern Corps, which may be zeroing in on their potential Hal Jordan. Still, Hal is expected to be joined by John Stewart in the film, and some new fan art makes a compelling case for Ali to be that man.

Artist Hamza Javed posted two designs depicting Ali as Stewart on his Instagram page (via CBM). The design of the suit is not too surprising and stays the same in both pictures, but the second image does brings glowing green eyes to the design.

While most people want Idris Elba or Tyrese Gibson, my pick for John Stewart/Green Lantern is @mahershalaali (AKA Cottonmouth from Luke Cage). Really wish they hadn’t killed off his character in Luke Cage, he was easily the best part of the season, hopefully he’ll reappear in the genre. Shoutout to ComicBookMovie.com for sponsoring this piece, the full article will be on their site soon. A photo posted by Hamza Javed (@hjaved.art) on Jan 15, 2017 at 11:30am PST

Alternate version of the previous John Stewart @mahershalaali piece (with the signature glowing green eyes added) A photo posted by Hamza Javed (@hjaved.art) on Jan 15, 2017 at 2:50pm PST

With there so much interest in Ali currently, WB would be smart to pick him up as a lead of their franchise moving forward. Surely some may not want to see the MCU and DCEU reuse actors in different roles, but Ali played a small role in the grand scheme of things on Luke Cage and will not be returning, so there is no real reason why this should be a problem if WB went down this path.

No matter how great Ali could look in the suit or how well he could play the character, we still do not know what type of John Stewart WB is looking for. The shortlist for Hal has actors of various ages with Armie Hammer being the youngest at 30, while Tom Cruise is 54. Ali is 42 currently, and while age is not the biggest factor in these castings, it could come into play depending on what kind of dynamic WB is looking for. If they are not looking for a mentor/mentee relationship from Hal and John, then Ali could fit with any of the rumored choices.

With Green Lantern Corps recently finding new writers and the possibility of Hal being cast soon, WB could be looking to move this project forward rather quickly. If that is the case, then the casting of John Stewart should not be too far away, and maybe after seeing the interest from fans, WB could consider Ali in the role.

Source: Instagram [via CBM]

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