John Boyega was all set to play Terry Richmond in Rebel Ridge before Aaron Pierre was taken aboard for the role, which raises questions about why Boyega dropped out of the Netflix film. Even though Rebel Ridge is a relatively low-budget action film, it was surprisingly in production for the past five years. According to reports, John Boyega was cast for the leading role in November 2019, and the film's shooting was scheduled to begin sometime in April 2020.

However, due to the delays from the lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, Rebel Ridge's shooting did not start until May 2021. In June 2021, the film's production faced another major challenge when John Boyega abruptly departed from the project. This is when Aaron Pierre was cast for the leading role. Fortunately, the third time was a charm since the film's shooting went smoothly thereafter. Although Aaron Pierre's casting has worked wonders for the Jeremy Saulnier movie,...