The CW has officially ordered Black Lightning to series and you can check out the first trailer here!
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 a Black Lightning TV show. 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.
The show was originally in development at Fox, but now the series is heading to the CW's already crowded superhero schedule.
Watch the full trailer here:
Black Lightning Release Date
Black Lightning isn't on the CW's Fall 2017 schedule, so expect this to air during the midseason time when their other superhero shows are on hiatus.
Check out Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce, in full Black Lightning costume...
The costume was designed by Laure Jean Shannon, whose live action superhero credits include Iron Man, Blade: Trinity, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. She's also working on Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
“I knew way too much about the world as a young boy growing up in Richmond, California," executive producer and writer Salim Akil said in a statement that came with the photo. "I was no stranger to violence, death, hopelessness or the feeling that no one cared about what was happening in my life. Comics were a great way for me to escape. I was about 13 when Black Lightning was created, and finally there was a Black Super Hero that gave a damn about our neighborhood and our lives. Resurrecting him at a time in our society when a sense of hope is lacking...Black Lightning will be that hope. And in updating the suit, it will signal to a new generation that it’s time to harness and release our power, and become our own Super Heroes.”
We'll keep you posted on more developments as we get them! We expect that we'll see it in Fall 2017, unless they decide to hold it to run during the mini-breaks their other superhero shows take from time to time.
Black Lightning Story
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!
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.