Though the series won’t debut until mid season The CW has shown off its first footage from Black Lightning. At a press event to unveil its 2017/18 season schedule gathered press were given the chance to see a near three minute preview which we’ve got for you in the player below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZpJeuXo2CY
Some unexpected news was announced during the event – Black Lightning will NOT be part of the universe shared by sister series Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl. Instead the series will exist as a standalone. We also now have a much more details synopsis for the series:
Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is a man wrestling 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 neighbourhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero to his community. 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.
Brining Black Lightning to life on The CW will also be Executive Producer Greg Berlanti. ‘Black Lightning’ joins the roster of CW DC shows which includes Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl.
Black Lightning stars Cress Williams, China Anne McClain, Nafessa Williams and Christine Adams.
