The Women Of 'Black Lightning' On Being Badass, Embracing Their Powers In The 'High Stakes' Season 2

The second season of The CW’s impactful superhero series, Black Lightning is well underway. This season, the women who have stood behind, Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) as he reluctantly resumed his role as the vigilante, Black Lightning, are about to be front and center. During Season 1, the audience watched as Jefferson’s ex-wife Lynn (Christine Adams) voiced her concern and disdain about Jeff putting his superhero suit back on. Now, Lynn is ready to take matters into her own hands, using her own superpowers – her role as a doctor and scientist—to save the children of Freeland who have succumbed to the volatile Green Light drug. 

Jeff and Lynn’s daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) are also finding their footing as superheroes in their own right. During Black Lightning's inaugural season we watched the young women grapple with the knowledge of their father’s true identity, as well as the revelation of their own powers. While Anissa is keen to work alongside her father as the superhero Thunder, Jennifer is uncomfortable with her new abilities and her inability to control them. 

Reluctant as they may have been, as Salim Akil, Black Lightning's creator/showrunner, told Shadow and Act, the women of Black Lightning will spend season 2 following in Jeff's footsteps and coming into their own. 

Shadow and Act recently traveled to Decatur, Georgia, where Black Lightning is filmed to speak with Christine Adams, Nafessa Williams, and China Anne McClain about Season 2 and why their characters will be the focal points as we move forward. 

"I think I've been so lucky to play this kind of character in this kind of show," Adams said of Lynn, who is the only person in the Pierce household without superhuman abilities. "There was always the discussion of her not having superpowers --how that feels, and how she would navigate this chapter. Lynn has evolved. She's a protective mother, that's always first and foremost. But also at the end of season one, she killed someone. There's no going back from that," she said. "In season two, she goes on this unbelievable journey, which is not just about the family but it's about her as a doctor, as a mother, a woman, and a wife. Killing someone has tapped into something very primal to Lynn." 

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Cress Williams on 'Black Lightning,' Jefferson's Endgame and Why The Show Is Forever Changed

Black Lightning has returned full throttle for a second season, and the stakes are higher and grittier this go-round. Last season, Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), a man who had been turned his back on his superhero alter-ego Black Lightning, decided he could no longer sit back and watch his city, Freeland, descend into chaos. After a nine-year hiatus, he chose to slip back into his super suit and use his superhuman abilities to harness and control electricity to try and save his community. 

Jeff’s decision to step back into the masked vigilante’s shoes had quite the effect on his family. Namely, his scientist ex-wife, Lynn (Christine Adams) with whom he’d been working to rekindle a romance, and the couple’s daughters, Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) – strong-minded young women who are discovering their own superpowers. 

Despite his best efforts to help the people of Freeland, the season finale of Black Lightning ended with Jefferson at death's door. The menacing Tobias (Marvin Jones III), and his violent 100 gang nearly got the best of the high school principal. Just before the season premiere, Shadow and Act, headed to Decatur, Georgia to tour the Black Lightning set and speak to Williams about Season 2, how everything is about to change for the Pierce family, and why Jefferson will be juggling a lot more demons both in and out of his suit. 

"The first part of this season is Jefferson realizing all of the bad things that happened in season one," Williams says. "He's ready to take all the good and is kind of in denial about the bad. In the first three episodes, he's getting confronted with, 'This is the bad repercussion of what you did to the school, this is the bad repercussion of this and that — this is the bad repercussion of your daughter now having powers.' He’s also grappling with his family, Anissa's jumped in, and she's active as Thunder, Lynn's Green Light Babies, and Jennifer's wrestling with her powers." 

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Salim Akil On Making 'Black Lightning' Blacker Than Ever And Why Black Women Are The Backbone Of The Series

Black superhero drama Black Lightning is back, and its sophomore season promises to be even more powerful than the first. 

Under the bold direction of executive producer Salim Akil, Black Lightning is primarily about family and the sacrifices one makes to keep them safe. The series follows Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), who had given up his crime-fighting alter ego Black Lightning for the sake of his wife and kids. Nine years later, he’s a high school principal with a tumultuous relationship with his now ex-wife Lynn (Christine Adams), and they co-parent two daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain). When a dangerous gang threatens the city of Freeland, he’s forced to resume his vigilantism, while protecting his secret identity from a government agency that's hot on his trail and keeping his daughters safe, who might just be superheroes too. 

Based on the DC Comics character of the same name, this show's explosive first season proved that it was much more than a stereotypical showcase of good versus evil. The show includes nuanced narratives about drug addiction, police brutality, government conspiracies and unsanctioned experimentation on Black bodies.  

Ahead of the season premiere, Shadow and Act traveled to Decatur, Georgia, where Black Lightning is filmed, to speak with Akil, tour the set, and get an inside scoop into the upcoming season. 

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