Black Lightning is coming to an end in a few weeks when the series’ current fourth season concludes, but the story may not fully end there. A backdoor pilot for a potential Painkiller spinoff series centered around Khalil Payne/Painkiller (Jordan Calloway) aired as part of Black Lightning‘s final season and, if picked up, would provide an avenue not only for new stories but to continue some of what was started in Freeland. And if the Painkiller spinoff does go forward, Wallace Smith, who joined Black Lightning this season as Detective Hassan Shakur, would like to see his character make the leap.
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Speaking with ComicBook.com, Smith explained that when he joined Black Lightning he didn’t know at the start of the season that it would be the series’ last and that he’s since watched how the writers have worked to bring the series’ stories together.
“You know I think, for one, coming into the season I didn’t know that it was going to be the last until about a couple of months in and so I’ve had to watch the writers this year fit this character into these different scenarios and try to button up the story,” Smith said.
He went on to explain that he thinks that Detective Shakur could end up being a real asset for Khalil going forward as well.
“So, for me as an actor, you want more but then as a character, I feel like there needs to be more because there’s so many glimpses of what he could be and I think that having the spinoff like Painkiller and having a character like Painkiller where there’s this duality there, he needs help and I think that’s what Shakur is really going to be established as in these last couple of episodes, that he’s relatable and he can help,” he said. “So yeah, I’d love to see more of him if they go forward with this.”
You can check out the description of Painkiller below.
“Based on characters created for DC by Tony Isabella with Eddie Newell, Painkiller follows Khalil Payne (Jordan Calloway), a young man ridden with the guilt of his troubled past from his former life in Freeland City. As a super-enhanced killing machine known as Painkiller, he was both a member of Tobias Whale’s gang and a weapon of Agent Odell and the shadowy ASA. After attempting to bury the darker, devastatingly lethal Painkiller part of his persona, Khalil has distanced himself away from everyone he knows and loves in a new city, Akashic Valley, in order to find peace. But peace never comes easy for men with pasts like his. As his violent, destructive history crashes his idyllic new beginning, Khalil is thrust back into action with a new mission – bring justice where he once gave out punishment – but to do that, he will first have to deal with and harness his darker side.”
Black Lightning airs Mondays at 9/8c on The CW.
