Black Lightning TV Series in Development For Fox

It was reported last week that The CW's comic book show mastermind Greg Berlanti was developing a television series for DC's electro-shock-shooting superhero Black Lightning. However, while the veracity of those details still mostly hold, it seems one easily made assumption was just rendered false!

According to TV Line, Berlanti's Black Lightning small screen project – written and co-developed by showrunner spouses Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil – is now being targeted to manifest NOT on The CW (as logic and continuity would seemingly dictate,) but over at Fox. No further details other than that have been revealed. However, the cross-network presence of Black Lightning seems almost reminiscent of last year’s inaugural season of Berlanti's Supergirl on CBS, until the ratings-struggling show found a more genre-conducive home on The CW with its continuity-connected brethren like Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.

With this Fox revelation, it remains to be seen just how much of a connection (if any,) Black Lightning will have to those CW shows. However, with the series showcasing an African-American superhero, we could presume that Fox wished to acquire Black Lightning to complement its other popular African-American shows such as Rosewood and its hip-hop crown jewel Empire.

The original article as it appeared on 9/1/16:

Greg Berlanti’s small screen DC Comics universe continues to evolve in a satisfying and prolific way. With Berlanti’s television family currently consisting of Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl recently making the network migration from CBS to the CW fold, it seems that another potential player, this time a legendary, spark-shooting African-American superhero, could imminently emerge in a Black Lightning TV series.   

According to Deadline, 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 emerge on an immensely auspicious live-action platform of the continuity-connected CW televisions shows.

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Black Lightning will reportedly launch with a script written by the Akils. Mostly similar to the traditional backstory of Black Lightning – who debuted in the pages of DC Comics back in 1977 – the television story will depict the ordeal of Jefferson Pierce, a former super-powered vigilante who quit the crime-fighting game years ago, during a personally crucial impasse. It seems that his formerly studious and level-headed daughter has joined a gang – presumably in their hometown located in the slums of Metropolis. The unfortunate events apparently cascade, causing Jefferson to once again suit up as Black Lightning and electrify evil with his metahuman powers consisting of electrokinesis and enhanced reflexes.

With Marvel set to debut the Netflix small screen live-action solo series of its iconic African-American character Luke Cage later this month, one might presume that this Black Lightning news is more than a coincidence. Indeed, 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). Thus, similarly fortuitous circumstances have seemingly manifested in the realm of television nearly forty years later.

Black Lightning will be an intriguing addition to the so-called Berlantiverse of The CW sometime down the line. However, for now, the current quartet of shows ready their respective returns in October, with a massive crossover event imminently arriving.