The fourth and final season of the American television series ''

Black Lightning Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in ''Black Lightning'' #1 (April 1977), during ...

'', which is based on the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

character Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning, premiered on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

on February 8, 2021. The season is produced by

Berlanti Productions Berlanti Productions is an American film and television production company founded by screenwriter, producer and filmmaker Greg Berlanti and producer Mickey Liddell. History The company was founded in 2000 as Berlanti-Liddell Productions by ...

, Akil Productions, Warner Bros. Television, and

DC Entertainment DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and was based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery that manages its DC Comics units and characters in other unit ...

. It is set in the

Arrowverse The Arrowverse is an American superhero media franchise and a shared universe that is centered on various interconnected television series based on DC Comics superhero characters, primarily airing on The CW as well as web series on CW Seed ...

, sharing continuity with the other television series of the franchise. The season was ordered in January 2020 and production began that October, with

Salim Akil Salim Akil is an American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter from Oakland, California. He developed the television series '' Black Lightning'' based on a DC comics character of the same name. He is a co-founder of Akil Pro ...

once again serving as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

. The season continues to follow Jefferson, now a high school principal in his second stint as the superhero Black Lightning, as he fights against local corruption in his community of Freeland.

Cress Williams Cress Williams (born July 26, 1970) is an American actor, known for his roles in ''Prison Break'' and '' Close to Home''. His most recent roles include Mayor Lavon Hayes on The CW series ''Hart of Dixie'' and the title character on The CW's ''Bla ...

stars as Jefferson, along with principal cast members

China Anne McClain China Anne McClain (born August 25, 1998) is an American actress and singer. McClain's career began when she was seven years old, portraying Alexis in the film ''The Gospel'' (2005), and then China James in '' Daddy's Little Girls'' (2007). Sh ...

Nafessa Williams Nafessa Williams is an American actress. She is most known for her 2011 role as Nicole Gordon in the Meek Mill film ''Streets'', her 2011 role as Deanna Forbes on the ABC soap opera '' One Life to Live'', and her 2016 role as Dr. Charlotte Piel ...

, Marvin "Krondon" Jones III, Christine Adams, Jordan Calloway, and

James Remar William James Remar (born December 31, 1953) is an American actor. He has played numerous roles over a 40 year career, most notably Ajax in '' The Warriors'' (1979), Albert Ganz in ''48 Hrs.'' (1982), Dutch Schultz in '' The Cotton Club'' (198 ...

also returning from previous seasons. Laura Kariuki replaces McClain as Jennifer Pierce starting with the fifth episode "The Book of Ruin: Chapter One: Picking Up the Pieces"; McClain, however, returns for the series finale.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

as Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning *

as Jennifer Pierce / Lightning (episodes 1–4 & 13) ** Laura Kariuki as The Ionosphere / Jennifer "JJ Stewart" Pierce / Lightning (episodes 5–13; recurring) *

as Anissa Pierce / Thunder / Blackbird * Christine Adams as Lynn Stewart * Marvin "Krondon" Jones III as

Tobias Whale Tobias Whale is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Black Lightning. Whale appears in the live-action Arrowverse series '' Black Lightning'', portrayed by Marvin "Krondon" Jones ...

* Jordan Calloway as Khalil Payne / Painkiller * Chantal Thuy as Grace Choi / Wylde *

as Peter Gambi

Recurring

* William Catlett as Latavius "Lala" Johnson * Rafael Castillo as Devonte Jones *

Melissa De Sousa Melissa De Sousa is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Shelby in the 1999 romantic comedy-drama film '' The Best Man'', its 2013 sequel '' The Best Man Holiday'' and the 2022 Peacock series '' The Best Man: The Final Chapters ...

as Chief Ana Lopez * Tommy Kane as John Webb * Bethann Hardison as Dr. Bowlan * Todd Anthony as Dr. Darius Morgan * Kedrick Brown as Marcel Payton * Jemarcus Kilgore as Montel * Robert Tinsley as Homeless Mam * Elena Varela as Lauren Caruso * Wallace Smith as Detective Hassan Shakur * Helen Joo Lee as Val Seong * Matt Roszak as Red * Christopher A'mmanuel as Baron / T.C.

Guest

Reggie Hayes Reginald C. Hayes (born July 15, 1969) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his role as William Dent on the UPN/ CW show '' Girlfriends''. Early life Hayes was born on July 15, 1969 in Chicago, Illinoisyoungest ...

as Mayor Billy Black * Jason Louder as Frank "Two-Bits" Tanner * Teesha Renee as Destiny * Veronika Rowe as Auntie Gina * Renell Gibbs as Kyrie * Kelvin Hair as Lydell Green *

Amanda Baker Amanda Baker (born December 22, 1979) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Jolene Crowell on '' General Hospital: Night Shift'' in 2007 and Babe Carey Chandler on ''All My Children'' from 2007 to 2008. Baker reappeared on J ...

as Rebecca Larson * Tre' Stokes as Terry Andrews * Sh'Kia Augustin as the voice of Shonda * Paden Fallis as Marshall Bates * Troy Faruk as Deputy Chief Wesley Robinson * Rico Ball as

Ishmael Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...

Bill Duke William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor and film director. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres often as a character related to law enforcement. Frequently ...

as Agent Odell * Alexander Hodge as Philky * James Roch as Donald * Sibongile Mlambo as Maya Odell *

Fantastic Negrito Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz (born January 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, is an American singer-songwriter whose music spans blues, R&B, and roots music. His 2016 album '' The Last Days of Oakland'' won a Grammy award f ...

as Fantastic Negrito Hologram * McKalin Hand as Uriah Coleman * Jamal Akakpo as Kevin Mason * Kenneth Trujillo as Jesse Gentilucci * Will Blagrove as Keith Michaels * Sofia Vassilieva as

Looker ''Looker'' is a 1981 American science fiction film written and directed by Michael Crichton and starring Albert Finney, Susan Dey, and James Coburn. The film is a suspense/science-fiction piece that comments upon and satirizes media, advertisin ...

* Jef Holbrook as Party Pic Guy

Production

Development

On January 7, 2020, The CW renewed the series for its fourth season. On the early renewal of ''Black Lightning'' as well as other series, network president

Mark Pedowitz Mark Pedowitz is the former chairman and CEO of The CW. He replaced Dawn Ostroff in 2011, who had been the Head of Entertainment since the network's inception in 2006. Pedowitz oversaw all aspects of The CW, including programming, sales, marketin ...

released a statement reading, "These early orders for next season give our production teams a head start in plotting out story arcs and a jump on hiring staff, and this also provides us with a strong foundation of established, fan-favorite CW shows to build on for next season." On November 20, 2020, The CW confirmed that the fourth season will be the final season of the series.

Casting

Main cast members

, Christine Adams, Marvin "Krondon" Jones III, Jordan Calloway, and

return from previous seasons as Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning, Jennifer Pierce / Lightning, Anissa Pierce / Thunder, Lynn Stewart,

, Khalil Payne / Painkiller, and Peter Gambi, respectively. This is the first season to not feature Damon Gupton as Billy Henderson. In January 2020, Gupton revealed that Henderson was not in the plans for the fourth season and that the third season would be his last as a series regular. McClain appeared in a limited number of episodes, as she planned to leave the series after the season, ahead of it being announced to be the final season. This led to the fifth episode to have her character recast to Laura Kariuki. McClain, however, returned for the finale. In November 2020, Chantal Thuy, who portrays Grace Choi, was promoted to a series regular for the fourth season.

Filming

Filming began in mid-October 2020.

Release

The fourth season premiered on February 8, 2021. After this, episodes began releasing weekly every Monday.

Reception

Ratings

References

External links

* {{Arrowverse 2021 American television seasons Black Lightning (TV series) seasons