The CW’s Black Lightning revealed Jordan Calloway (Riverdale, The Mick, Pure Genius) has been upped to a series regular for the show’s second season. Calloway played Khalil Payne as a guest star in season one; in season two he’ll be the DC villain, Painkiller.
Per the network’s official announcement, “Khalil Payne was a high school All-American track star with dreams of going to the Olympics until a stray bullet severed his spine, leaving him embittered and unable to walk. Black Lightning’s archnemesis Tobias Whale (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III) offers him legs for loyalty. Khalil accepts the offer and receives cybernetic enhancements that transform him into the Painkiller, meta-strong and able to generate an anesthetic from his body that causes temporary paralysis when delivered through darts. Now, he is a living weapon for a ruthless crime boss. Before long, he pines for his old life and dreams, and his teenaged love, Jennifer Pierce (China Anne McClain).”
The cast of Black Lightning is led by Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce / Black Lightning. Nafessa Williams is Anissa Pierce, Christine Adams plays Lynn Pierce, Damon Gupton is Bill Henderson, and James Remar is Peter Gambi.
Salim Akil is the series’ showrunner and executive produces with Greg Berlanti, Mara Brock Akil, and Sarah Schechter.
Announcing Calloway as Painkiller, Salim Akil said, “I’m thrilled to have Jordan upped as a series regular. He was a great asset to our show in the role of Khalil/Painkiller during season one, and now that he has evolved into Painkiller, I can’t wait for you all to see him in season two.”
Season two will premiere on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 9pm ET/PT.
A Look Back at Season One: Jefferson Pierce (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 in 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 Superhero 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 (Williams) and Jennifer (McClain) grow into strong young women, even though his marriage to their mother, Lynn (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.
