Black Lightning’s back in another week! Here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming third season!
Black Lightning returns to the CW next Monday, October 7, which means it’s time to start hyping ourselves up for what’s sure to be another fantastic season.
But before we go there, let’s recap what happened in the jam-packed second season. Or rather, let’s let the CW recap what happened last season for us, with this nice sizzle reel.
Black Lightning season 2 was a feast of superhero goodness and familial bonding (and a fair amount of strife there, as well). While the first part of season 1 focused primarily on Jefferson integrating back into the superhero lifestyle, season 2 had him learning to adjust to Anissa entering the superhero lifestyle.
The end of season 2 had us finally getting to see Jen suited up, in control of her powers and kicking ass with her dad. The two of them together took Tobias Whale — a bit of sweet revenge for both father and daughter, as he had dealt painful, personal blows to both of them.
And though Lynn doesn’t have the superhuman abilities of her husband and daughters, she kicked ass in her own in season 2 — taking care of the podkids and handing business with Dr. Jace when the time came.
However, the celebration and relative calm in the Pierce family was short-lived, as the season ended with Agent Odell letting the Pierce family know that he not only knew who they were, but that their hometown of Freeland would soon be under attack by the Markovians — and they’d all been recruited by the ASA to stop it.
Which brings us to season 3!
The CW recently released an extended trailer for the upcoming season, and it looks just as exciting and epic as we’ve all been hoping for. Check it out below!
We also have an official synopsis for the first episode of the season, which will be titled: The Book of Occupation: Chapter One — Birth of a Blackbird.
We find Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) like never before, in the hands of the ASA with his wife Lynn (Christine Adams) as Agent Odell (guest star Bill Duke) tightens his grip on the Pierce family, leaving Jennifer (China Ann McClain) abandoned and Freeland without Black Lightning and Thunder. But Anissa (Nafessa Williams) secretly defies Odell in her alter ego as Blackbird with the able tactical and technical support of Gambi (James Remar).
It looks like the season will launch right into the Freeland – Markovia conflict, and cause both internal and external conflicts for all members of the Pierce family.
Here’s what we know so far about Black Lightning season 3.
Jefferson makes a really big sacrifice early on
The last season of Black Lightning essentially ended with Agent Odell drafting the Pierce family into a way they wanted nothing to do with. And though that feeling is not likely to change any time soon, it seems that the gravity of the situation will force Jefferson to make some decisions that will impact the rest of the season.
In an effort to protect his daughters, Cress Williams teased that Jefferson will make “a really big sacrifice” — one that “really propels him at the beginning of the season.” That sacrifice probably leads to the next thing we know about season 3, which is that —
The Pierce family is more disjointed than ever
Although season 2 tested the bonds of the Pierce family quite a bit, it’s apparently nothing compared to what we’ll get with season 3. Cress Williams said that because the Markovian conflict is pulling everyone in different directions, “The family is probably the most disjointed we’ve ever had it.”
In fact, the stories of the Pierce family members diverged so much that Williams says that it’s not until episode 4 where many of the family members have any scenes together.
Don’t count Tobias out quite yet
After two seasons of terrorizing Freeland, the Pierce family and everyone they’ve ever loved — culminating in a particularly gruesome scene of Tobias ripping out Khalil’s spine that I almost couldn’t believe they showed on the CW — Tobias Whale finally got what was coming to him. The fearsome kingpin of Freeland ended the season in the black-site prison called The Pit — without his powers, without his cronies and without his wealth. However, there’s no reason to think he’s out of the game completely.
Marvin “Krondon” Jones III, who plays Tobias, says that the character is so resilient that “if you take one strength from him, he’s going to find another strength. If you take one thing, he’s going to find another thing to utilized and manipulate to his advantage.” Executive Producer Salim Akil backed that up, saying that Tobias will ” have to use his superior intelligence to work his way out — and not his brawn.”
ThunderGrace fans haven’t been forgotten!
When we talked to Nafessa Williams at San Diego Comic Con, one of her wishlist items for the upcoming season was to see more closure– and just more interaction in general — between Anissa and Chantal Thuy’s Grace Choi. The ThunderGrace pairing has been a fan favorite since it first was introduced all the way back in season 1, and though the ship had its moments in season 2, the season ended with Grace essentially ghosting Anissa.
However, never fear, ThunderGrace fans! A recent interview with Black Lightning executive producer Salim Akil reveals that Grace will be back in season 3, and that “she’ll always be on Anissa’s side.”
Season 3 will have a broader scope
The first two seasons focused solely on the Pierce family and their fight for the citizens of Freeland. That will still be the case for the upcoming season, however, with the inclusion of the Markovian war, the focus of the story will take a more international bent.
Likewise, the type of stories that the show will tell are in for a slight shift, with Executive Producer Salim Akil saying that season 3 will have stories that “talk about concerns not just for black folk but for people in general. We’ll cover mental health and addiction issues that affect the whole country.”
Black Lightning will be part of the Arrow-verse crossover
While the rest of the DCCW shows have long resided in the same shared universe, Black Lightning has operated in its own continuity and its own universe –completely separate from the Arrow-verse — since its inception.
However, that will all change with the upcoming massive Arrow-verse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Cress Williams and the show confirmed that Black Lightning will be joining the Arrow-verse crossover for the first time in the show’s history. Though the show won’t have an episode dedicated to the crossover event like the other five shows in the Arrow-verse, Black Lightning characters will appear in the crossover event.