The CW’s Black Lightning Pilot Lands A Director

The director of The CW’s Black Lightning pilot has been revealed.

In a round-up about the diversity among helmers of this year’s TV pilots, Deadline mentioned in passing that Salim Akil, who with his wife Mara Brock Akil is writing and executive producing the Black Lightning DC Comics adaptation, is also going to be directing it. The Akils are currently in a multi-year development deal with Warner Bros. Television.

Akil has many, many directing credits, including The Game, Being Mary Jane, Girlfriends, and Soul Food.

Black Lightning is currently in contention for a spot on The CW’s 2017-2018 schedule which will be announced in May. If picked up, it would become the fifth DC Comics show from Greg Berlanti on the lineup, and the sixth overall assuming iZombie is renewed for Season 4. The potential TV series is based on the DC Comics character originally created by Tony Isabella with Trevor von Eeden.

You can read more about the Black Lightning TV project here.