Black Lightning Premiere Date Announced, Will Take Legends’ Time Slot

The CW has announced that the upcoming superhero series Black Lightning will make its debut on the network on Tuesday, January 16 at 9 PM following an all-new episode of The Flash. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will have a new date and time when it returns to the network in February.

As Black Lightning begins, 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 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.

Williams leads a cast that includes Nafessa Williams and China Anne McClain as his daughters, with Christine Adams, Damon Gupton, and James Remar. Jill Scott was cast as the villain Lady Eve.

Based on the characters from DC, Black Lightning is from Berlanti Productions and Akil Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil & Mara Brock Akil, and Sarah Schechter. The Black Lightning character was created by Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden.