Originally published July 13, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Entertainment Weekly has released a new image from The CW’s newest DC superhero adaptation Black Lightning featuring Cress Williams’ Jefferson Pierce building his new suit; take a look below…
“The bare bones details are that he’s a metahuman, meaning he was born with these abilities, and discovered them as a child,” states Williams with regards to his character. “He created, with the help of a friend, Black Lightning, and was fighting crime in his community for quite a few years before he hung it up for his family. As we pick up the story, he has hung up his suit for about nine years, and then circumstances cause him to pick it back up again.”
“He’s a strong leader in his community, so when he first wore the suit, he was a teacher, so he was trying to uplift his community through education, but he was also on the streets as a hero,” he continues. “For the sake of his family — his wife wanted him to come home safely every night — he decided to put that side away, and has since become a principal. He’s done a lot of good through education, but there’s also something lacking on the streets. Because of that, he gets pulled back in. His family gets tied up into it and simply his daughters are in direct danger, which forces him to step up.”
Head on over to EW for the full interview with Williams.
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 neighborhood 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.
Black Lightning is being executive produced by Arrow’s Greg Berlanti, as well as Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil (Being Mary Jane), and Sarah Schechter (The Flash). It is set to premiere in midseason.
