We might be on the verge of peak superhero TV, if that hurdle hasn’t already been cleared. But producer Greg Berlanti apparently doesn’t think so.
The man responsible for Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl, along with his team of producers, are practically a superhero TV studio, creating content almost entirely for The CW, now that Supergirl has migrated over from CBS. And they want to keep cranking out more.
As reported by Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva, Berlanti is teaming up with producers Mara Brock Akil (The Game, Being Mary Jane) and Salim Akil to develop a series based on DC Comics’ Black Lightning. The character was created in the late-1970s by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden, and was one of the first African American superheroes. In the comic books, Jefferson Pierce was a former Olympic athlete who was born with the power of electricity. After his father is murdered, he returns to his old neighborhood to become a high school principal and decides to use his abilities to fight crime after one of his students is killed by gang violence.
According to Andreeva’s report, the series will pick up with Pierce having already been Black Lightning and retiring the superhero identity after his daughter was born. But when his daughter wants to do something about local crime and a top student is being recruited by a gang, Pierce decides to get back into the costumed crimefighter game.
Here’s an interesting tidbit if you’re a longtime fan of superhero cartoons, via Birth.Movies.Death’s Devin Faraci: Black Lightning was supposed to be part of the Super Friends, but Hanna-Barbera couldn’t get the rights to the character from Isabella. So the cartoon came up with Black Vulcan as a replacement.
The Akils have written the pilot and will be executive producers (presumably showrunners) for the series, working with Berlanti and Sarah Schecter (who has been an executive producer on Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl). Black Lightning has been in development for a year and is currently being shopped around to networks, though it seems like The CW is a natural landing spot. There’s an opening on the network’s Friday night schedule, though it might not look great to stick a show featuring an African American superhero on one of the least-viewed nights of the week.
One actor who expressed interest in playing Black Lightning long before the project was announced (although maybe he heard about its development) is Orlando Jones.
https://twitter.com/TheOrlandoJones/status/552675588490932225
[Deadline]
