Black Lightning’s Daughters Cast in CW Pilot

Nafessa Williams and China Anne McClain been cast opposite Cress Williams in Black Lightning, the CW’s upcoming DC Comics pilot from Greg Berlanti, Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil, Deadline reports.

McCain will play Jefferson Pierce’s younger daughter Jennifer Piere, an independent, outspoken scholar-athlete with a wild streak of her own. Williams, who will star in the forthcoming third season of Twin Peaks, is Anissa Pierce. Described as passionate and quick-witted, Jefferson’s twenty-something daughter balances the demands of medical school with her job teaching part-time at her father’s school. In the comics, Anissa and Jennifer follow in their father’s footsteps and become superheroes, taking on the names of Thunder and Lightning, respectively.

Black Lightning, if a series order is given, would be Berlanti’s fifth DC-based superhero series on the network and would be the first to star a black superhero as the title star.

The pilot will be co-produced by Mara Brock Akil, Sarah Schechter, and Salim Akil, based on the character created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden. Salim Akil is set to write and direct.

It should be noted that Berlanti also produces Riverdale on the CW, making this his sixth comic-based property for the network.

Reportedly, FOX felt they were overextended on genre and comic book TV, with Gotham and Lucifer being joined by a pair of X-Men shows. The move to The CW also gives Black Lightning a chance to coexist with, and cross over with, the other Berlanti superhero shows — something that would have been borderline impossible on FOX.

The synopsis for the potential series reads:

Jefferson Pierce made his choice: he hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago, but with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend — Black Lightning.

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