‘Black Lightning’ To End With Season 4. ‘Painkiller’ Spin-Off Still In Development.
Well, this is something of a surprise… The upcoming 4th Season of ‘Black Lightning‘ will be it’s last according to The CW, however, the recently announced potential ‘Painkiller’ spin-off is still going to air as a backdoor pilot in the run.
“When we first started the Black Lighting journey, I knew that Jefferson Pierce and his family of powerful black women would be a unique addition to the superhero genre,” commented exec producer Salim Akil. “The love that Blerds and all comic book fans around the globe have shown this series over the past three seasons proved what we imagined, Black People Want To See Themselves in all their complexities. Thank you to the phenomenal cast, writers and crew without whom none of this would’ve been possible. I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve been able to do and the moments we’ve been able to create in bringing DC’s first African-American family of superheroes to life for the culture.”
He continues “I’m very grateful to Peter Roth, Warner Bros. TV, Mark Pedowitz, The CW Network and Greg Berlanti for their partnership and support of my vision at every step of this journey. While Season Four may be the end of one journey, I’m extremely excited to usher in a new chapter and continued collaboration with The CW as we tell the story of Painkiller.”
The marks the third of the Arrowverse shows to end following ‘Arrow’ itself, which ended after 8 seasons earlier this year, and ‘Supergirl’, which is set to end with the upcoming 6th Season. That still leaves ‘The Flash’, ‘Legends Of Tomorrow’, ‘Batwoman’, and newcomer ‘Superman & Lois’, on-air, plus the potential ‘Painkiller’ spin-off, which may or may not happen. We still don’t have any further news on the previous backdoor pilot, ‘Green Arrow and the Canaries‘, which may still be a possibility too.
‘Black Lightning’ stars Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce, a man with many faces. He is a former Olympic athlete, respected educator and a father of two. He is also Black Lightning, superpowered protector of the fictional city of Freeland with the ability to sense and harness electricity. Joining him are his superpowered daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain), along with his wife Lynn (Christine Adams), and go-to tech genius Peter Gambi (James Remar).
The potential ‘Painkiller’ spin-off is set to follow Jen’s ex, 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 (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III) gang and a weapon of Agent Odell and the shadowy ASA.
‘Black Lightning‘ Season 4 premieres February 08, 2021, at 9pm on The CW in the USA. Last season, the drama aired as a boxset on Netflix in the UK. Assuming it does that again, we’ll have to wait for it to complete it’s run overseas before we get it here… That likely places the UK air date around June(ish) 2021 at the earliest (depending how many episodes this season has), but we’ll let you know when we have something confirmed.
