In January it was announced that Damon Gupton, who plays Chief Bill Henderson on Black Lightning, would not be returning for The CW’s fourth season. Gupton told fans in a social media post at the time that he was told that the character was not in the plans for Season 4 which means that Monday night’s Season 3 finale will see the character’s exit. With the finale also seeing the final showdown between Freeland’s heroes and the Markovian threat — specifically Gravedigger (Wayne Brady) — it’s an exit that could go in a number of directions and, according to series star Cress Williams, it will be an emotional one.
“It’s going to be emotional,” Williams told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s going to be unexpected. I think without totally giving things away, that’s the best I can say. And I hope it frustrates the audience, in a good way.”
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In Gupton’s January revelation about Henderson’s future on Black Lightning, the actor revealed that he was told before Christmas about the departure, admitting that he was disappointed by the news. Williams shared in the interview that he, too, was not happy with the change.
“I can tell you I’m not happy about it, both from a character and from an acting standpoint,” Williams said. “He was one of my favorite people to work with. I think we both love working with each other and always talked about just wanting more and more scenes together.”
Despite being sad that he would no longer be working with Gupton, Williams did open up about getting to work with Brady, something he enjoyed as the actors had a lot of downtime while shooting big fight scenes.
“It’s funny, because pretty much every time me and Wayne are in a scene together, there’s always action and effects that are heavy in the scene,” Williams said. “Just the way that it’s structured, we don’t have a scene where we sit down and we have a glass of wine, and we talk. It’s always just like action, and so there’s a lot of technical stuff that goes on. So when you’re doing stuff like that, there’s a lot of waiting. So I think for us, it was just the opportunity to chat here and there, and catch up, and watch him do things for the first time, like work nights and be put on wires, and all the technical things that happen, and watch him experience those for the first time, and chat about that. So it was fun.”
Black Lightning airs Mondays at 9/8c on The CW. The Season 3 finale, “The Book of War: Chapter Three: Liberation” airs March 9.
