BLACK LIGHTNING is coming to The CW. It will mark the fifth DC superhero show on the network’s schedule, although it will not be part of the ARROW-verse (and, hence, not part of the annual crossover).
In the show, Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is a man with a secret. As the father of two daughters and principal of a charter high school that also serves as a safe haven for young people in a New Orleans neighborhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero to his community.
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Nine years ago, Pierce was a hero of a different sort. Gifted with the superhuman power to harness and control electricity, he used those powers to keep his hometown streets safe as the masked vigilante Black Lightning. However, after too many nights with his life on the line, and seeing the effects of the damage and loss that his alter ego was inflicting on his family, he left his Super Hero days behind and settled into being a principal and a dad. Choosing to help his city without using his superpowers, he watched his daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) grow into strong young women, even though his marriage to their mother, Lynn (Christine Adams), suffered. Almost a decade later, Pierce’s crime-fighting days are long behind him…or so he thought.
But with crime and corruption spreading like wildfire, and those he cares about in the crosshairs of the menacing local gang The One Hundred, Black Lightning returns — to save not only his family, but also the soul of his community.
Greg Berlanti (ARROW, THE FLASH), Salim Akil & Mara Brock Akil (BEING MARY JANE), and Sarah Schechter (ARROW, THE FLASH) will serve as executive producers.
BLACK LIGHTNING will air midseason on The CW (see The CW’s full fall 2017 schedule).