If Loving You Is Wrong and Fear The Walking Dead actress Edwina Findley has been cast in The CW’s Black Lightning. 

As a new character created for the show (not present in the comics), she will play Tori, “the beautiful and cunning younger sister to Tobias Whale (Marvin ‘Krondon’ Jones III). Tori’s charming nature is just a facade as she can be just as deadly as Tobias, an exciting threat to the people of Freeland.

A series regular on ILYIW, she also appeared in the Fox event series, Shots Fired. 

A few weeks ago, it was announced that another recurring player was added, Kyanna Simone Simpson. She will will play Kiesha, “the partner-in-crime/best friend of Jennifer Pierce (China Anne McClain), who also attends Garfield High School. The daughter of Inspector Henderson (Damon Gupton), Kiesha will encourage Jennifer to challenge her image as the perfect principal’s daughter.”

Black Lightning stars Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce, 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 to 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. 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.

It also stars Nafessa Williams and China Anne McClain as his daughters Anissa Pierce (Thunder) and Jennifer Pierce (Lightning), and Christine Adams as his Lynn, his ex-wife. Damon Gupton will play Henderson, a detective and unlikely ally to Jefferson and Jill Scott will be the villainous Lady Eve.

According to DC Comics Universe lore, Black Lightning – created by Tony Isabella and Trevor von Eeden, first appearing in Black Lightning #1 (1977) –  is a superhero with the ability to generate and control lightning. Originally he was a high school principal and Olympic-level athlete who became a vigilante to take down organized crime in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum. Eventually, he would become a member of Batman’s team of Outsiders for many years, although he retired briefly to become secretary of education underneath president Lex Luthor. Returning to crime-fighting, he has also been a member of the Justice League. His two daughters operate as the super-heroes Thunder and Lightning.

Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil will write and executive produce the series with Berlanti Prods.’ Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter, for Warner Bros. TV

The Black Lightning series has been in the works at Warner Bros. for over a year, going through different variations, because the TV studio wanted to make sure it got the character, his world, and the overall series right.

The show is set for a midseason premiere in 2018.

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