Aaron Pierre Can't Believe He Survived 'Rebel Ridge'

The actor’s high-stakes thriller sees him face off against an entire corrupt police department — and live to tell the tale.

This piece contains spoilers for “Rebel Ridge,” which premiered on Netflix on Sept. 6.

Aaron Pierre recalled exactly how he felt when he reached the end of the script for Netflix’s “Rebel Ridge.”

In the high-velocity action-thriller, the 30-year-old actor plays an ex-marine named Terry Richmond who, after a volatile encounter with a pair of dirty cops, faces off against an entire, nearly all-white police force. In perhaps the film’s biggest twist, Pierre’s character survives the violent battle — which includes shootouts, hand-to-hand combat and even jiu-jitsu — through the very end, something even he couldn’t believe initially.

“I remember the first time I read it. Of course, on the way to the end of the script, I was super hyped, and I was on this wild, energized ride with Terry,” Pierre said over Zoom. “But I did have this nervousness when I was reading it for the first time, like, ‘All of this is cool and dope, but what’s going to happen to my boy?’”

From the start, “Rebel Ridge” thrusts Terry into an unraveling tale about systemic injustice, institutional corruption, prejudice and greed in the small Southern town of Shelby Springs. It begins with the protagonist on an urgent mission to post bail for his cousin, who’s been arrested. Along the way, he’s abruptly stopped by the police, who seize his life savings and derail his plan to save his cousin’s life. His means of resolution almost turn deadly during a fight with local police Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson), especially after Terry uncovers a sinister criminal conspiracy stemming from the police department. However, unlike the common outcome we see in real-life escalated situations involving Black people and police, director-writer Jeremy Saulnier envisioned a different conclusion for Terry — one where the Black man lives.