“Black Lightning” did not arrive quietly. The CW premiered the series on January 16, 2018, and it ran four seasons and 58 episodes before signing off on May 24, 2021. Salim Akil developed it from the DC Comics character created by Jenny Blake Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden. The premise is a man wrestling with a secret, and the show never let him put the secret down.
Cress Williams plays Jefferson Pierce, principal of a charter high school in a New Orleans neighborhood overrun by gang violence. The school doubles as a safe haven for young people. Jefferson is a hero to his community in the plain, unglamorous sense — he shows up, he runs the building, he knows the kids’ names. He is also a retired superhero who can harness and manipulate electricity and carries enhanced strength. He returns to fighting crime as Black Lightning after his daughters are kidnapped by a local gang.
Cress Williams and the retired suit
The show’s smartest move is that Jefferson does not want the job back. The suit is a liability. His vigilante activity bleeds into his professional life and his family life, and the series treats both as real costs rather than set dressing.
Williams carries the double role without strain. He is credible as the principal and credible as the man who can throw lightning, and the show asks him to be both in the same scene more than once. That is harder than it sounds, and he makes it look like a job.
The pilot production history is its own small drama. The project was originally in development at Fox and given a pilot production commitment in September 2016. In February 2017, Fox passed. The CW picked it up and ordered a new pilot script. The CW officially ordered Black Lightning to series in May 2017. Cress Williams had been announced in the lead role on February 24, 2017.
Nafessa Williams, Anissa, and the first black lesbian superhero on television
Nafessa Williams plays Anissa Pierce, Jefferson’s elder daughter. The source describes her as passionate and quick-witted, in medical school and teaching part-time at Garfield High. She is a metahuman. Anissa manipulates her density with her breathing, which gives her superhuman strength and durability. She creates thunderlike shockwaves and has an accelerated healing factor. She also becomes Thunder and Blackbird.
Anissa is the first black lesbian superhero on television, and Williams has been direct about what that means. “I’m just really grateful to tell the story for young lesbians — and black lesbians in particular,” she said. “My hope is that when you watch Anissa, a young lesbian is inspired to walk boldly as who she is and to love herself and to love herself exactly how she looks.”
That is not a press-line flourish. It is the clearest statement of what the series was for.
Jennifer, Lynn, and the family at the center
China Anne McClain plays Jennifer Pierce, the younger daughter. The source calls her an independent, outspoken scholar-athlete with a wild streak of her own, a student at Garfield High. She becomes Lightning. Laura Kariuki recurs in season 4 as Jennifer. Kaden Washington Lewis plays a young Jefferson Pierce; Fallyn Brown plays a young Jennifer Pierce.
Christine Adams plays Lynn Stewart, a neuroscientist focused on metahuman studies and Jefferson’s ex-wife, who also serves as his love interest. The ex-wife who stays in the orbit is a familiar shape, but Lynn has her own work and her own expertise, and the show uses both.
The family is the engine. Take the daughters out and the premise collapses into a man punching people. The show knows it.
Tobias Whale, Gambi, and the supporting cast
Marvin “Krondon” Jones III plays Tobias Whale, an African-American man with albinism and Black Lightning’s nemesis. James Remar plays Peter Gambi, Jefferson’s oldest friend. Damon Gupton plays Bill Henderson, a veteran inspector and the highest-ranking detective on the force, across seasons 1 through 3.
Chantal Thuy plays Grace Choi. She was added to the recurring cast on October 30, 2017, and appeared in only two episodes of the first season before the role grew.
The casting rolled out over 2017 in a way that now reads like a blueprint:
- March 2: China Anne McClain and Nafessa Williams cast as Jennifer and Anissa Pierce
- March 10: Christine Adams cast as Lynn Stewart
- July 22 at San Diego Comic-Con: James Remar and Damon Gupton join as Peter Gambi and Inspector Bill Henderson
- August 10: Marvin “Krondon” Jones III added as a series regular for Tobias Whale
- July 21, 2018 at San Diego Comic-Con: Jordan Calloway promoted to series regular for season 2 as Khalil Payne / Painkiller
Jill Scott was cast as Lady Eve on October 5, 2017. Edwina Findley joined as Tori Whale, Tobias’ younger sister, on October 12. Kyanna Simone Simpson recurred as Kiesha, Henderson’s daughter and Jennifer’s best friend. Skye P. Marshall recurred as Kara Fowdy, vice principal of Garfield High. Myles Truitt played Issa Williams in season 2. Sofia Vassilieva was announced in a role on September 5, 2018.
Four seasons, and the Arrowverse crossover
Season 1 premiered January 16, 2018, and ran 13 episodes. The CW renewed the series in April 2018. Season 2 premiered October 9, 2018, and ran 16 episodes. Season 3 premiered October 7, 2019, and brought the series’ first tie-ins with the network’s other DC Comics shows, the group known as the Arrowverse. That led into Williams’ appearance as Black Lightning in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, which resulted in the series’ setting merging.
The crossover is the part of the run that aged least well. Black Lightning worked best when it stayed in its own neighborhood, with its own politics and its own family. The multiverse business is a different show wearing the same suit.
What the show actually got right
The CW’s DC output in this period was crowded. Black Lightning stood apart because it treated Jefferson Pierce’s community as a place with texture rather than a backdrop for fight scenes. A charter school principal as the lead is a strange, specific choice, and the series committed to it.
The show also let the daughters carry real weight. Jennifer’s arc and Anissa’s arc are not side plots. They are the point of the family structure, and the series gave both performers room.
The critical reception backs that up. Black Lightning holds a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the published critical score sits at 9.5/10. That is a high mark for a network superhero drama, and it is earned.
Four seasons and 58 episodes is a full run by any measure. The show ended on May 24, 2021, and it ended with its central idea intact: a man with power who keeps choosing the school, the daughters, and the neighborhood over the fight.
The parts worth watching are the first two seasons, when the series was still building the Pierce family and Tobias Whale was still the whole threat. The later crossover material is the noise. The family is the signal, and Black Lightning knew it from the pilot.
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