Cress Williams Is The CW’s Black Lightning

The role of Jefferson Pierce in The CW’s Black Lightning has been cast – and he already has a history in DC Comics television.

Cress Williams (Hart of Dixie) has landed the coveted role, and it’s not his first go-round in DC TV: Twenty-two years ago, he appeared as the villain Baron Sunday in an episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman titled “Never on Sunday.” We spoke with Williams in 2012 about his supervillain turn.

“It was awesome,” Williams recalled. “First of all, it was one of those jobs that I didn’t expect to get. I am a superhero fanatic, so to play a villain… next I want to play a hero, but to play a villain and the magic that was involved… I went to the Magic Castle and got a little magic tutelage. I had these cool cat-like contact lenses. It was like being a kid! One of the reasons we get into acting in the first place.” Playing a superhero is surely going to be even cooler for the actor.

Black Lightning centers on Jefferson Pierce (Williams). He made his choice: He hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago, but with a daughter hellbent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend Black Lightning.

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