The CW’s Black Lightning may not have filmed an official pilot, or premiere until midseason, but the electric hero is nonetheless ready to light it up. The first trailer is here, along with some bad news for those expecting Black Lightning to cross over with the other CW heroes.

Following the network’s Upfront presentation, The CW released an official Black Lightning trailer that teases Jefferson Pierce’s costumed past, as well that his gifts run in the family. Perhaps disappointingly, however, CW bosses confirm the series is not set in the same Arrow-verse with The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, and won’t join this fall’s crossover.

Featuring Hart of Dixie alum Cress Wiliams in the title role, and produced by Greg Berlanti, The Game and Being Mary Jane creators Mara Brock Akil and husband Salim, Black Lightning’s extended synopsis reads:

Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is 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 New Orleans 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. However, after too many nights with his life on the line, and seeing the effects of the damage and loss that his alter ego was inflicting on his family, he left his Super Hero days behind and settled into being a principal and a dad. Choosing to help his city without using his superpowers, he watched his daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) grow into strong young women, even though his marriage to their mother, Lynn (Christine Adams), suffered. 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.

In addition to Christine Adams as Jefferson’s ex-wife, Lynn, Black Lightning will see Twin Peaks star Nafessa Williams take the role of Jefferson’s older daughter Anissa Pierce, described as a twenty-something woman who balances the demands of medical school with teaching part-time at her father’s school. China Anne McClain portrays Jennifer Pierce, described as “independent, outspoken scholar-athlete with a wild streak of her own,” while both later take on the comic identities of Thunder and Lightning.

Black Lightning won’t arrive until midseason, so stay tuned for the latest.

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