DC Entertainment and Greg Berlanti's Black Lightning TV Series won't interact with the CW superheroes.
The CW’s DC Comics small screen maestro Greg Berlanti will team up with the husband-wife creative duo of Mara Brock Akil and husband Salim Akil to develop new comic book hero show Black Lightning. The Akils come to the table with valuable dramatic experience writing and producing African-American-centric shows such as Being Mary Jane, The Game, Girlfriends, and Soul Food. The collaboration – which sees the Akils as executive producers alongside Berlanti and Sarah Schechter – will finally have DC Comics’ very first black superhero Jefferson Pierce, aka Black Lightning make his way to live action.
Black Lightning will launch with a script written by the Akils. The official synopsis details how Jefferson Pierce, “who hung up his suit and his secret identity years ago. However, with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend Black Lightning.” So we'll be spared an origin story on a superhero TV series. Wonderful news!
The thing is, this show is currently in development at Fox, NOT the CW, which is where we usually expect a Berlanti-helmed superhero show to land. And while everyone gets excited by the prospects of the increasingly interconnected CW superhero shows, that likely won't be the case here. "“I don’t think so,” Berlanti said at the TCA Winter Tour when asked if Black Lightningmight interact with other shows (quotes via CBR). “If we’re lucky enough that that exists, that that show exists, I don’t think those worlds will cross over.”
Of course, there was a time when it seemed like Supergirl wouldn't have crossover episodes, either, and look how far we've come.
Join Amazon Prime - Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime - Start Free Trial Now![]()
Black Lightning was initially created by Tony Isabella and Trevor von Eeden, with Isabella brought in to DC fresh from his Marvel run, after having a hand in the character conception of Luke Cage (or Power Man). So with Luke Cage's recent success on Netflix, it seems that Black Lightning's time has come.
Hopefully Black Lightning finds a slot on Fox's fall 2017 schedule. We'll update this with more info as it becomes available.