Trivia / Black Lightning (2018)

• Actor-Shared Background: Marvin Jones III is an albino black man, much like Tobias Whale.
• Dawson Casting: To varying degrees.
  • Anissa is played by the 5 years older Nafessa Williams.
  • China Anne McClain is 3 years older than Jennifer.
  • Khalil is perhaps the most extreme example. He is supposed to be 17, but played by the 28 years old Jordan Calloway.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Anaya's father is deaf, and is played by deaf artist Warren "WAWA" Snipe.
• Fake American:
  • Christine Adams is from London, but her character of Lynn Stewart, formerly Lynn Pierce, is American.
  • Chantal Thuy is Canadian, whereas her character Grace Choi is (probably) American.
• Follow the Leader: The TV series was first ordered by Fox in 2016 during the positive early buzz for Luke Cage (2016), another street-level series about a black superhero. Cress Williams had even auditioned to play Cage before being cast as Black Lightning.
• The Other Darrin: After the first arc of Season 4, Jennifer goes from China Anne McClain to Laura Kariuki, though McClain comes back for the series finale.
• Playing Against Type: Wayne Brady as the villainous super soldier Gravedigger.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The reason why the show wasn't part of the Arrowverse from the get to go despite having Greg Berlanti as Executive Producer and airing on The CW. It's filmed in Atlanta while the other shows are filmed in Vancouver — it's not feasible to do a crossover due to filming locations. Come Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Black Lightning becomes officially incorporated into the Arrowverse.
• What Could Have Been: The TV series was originally going to air on Fox before it was picked up by The CW.
• Write What You Know: To quote series showrunner Salim Akil - "I’m writing what I know, I come from a place like Freeland. I know guys like Lala. This is not something that I am making up to be cutting edge or edgy this is what I have lived so, as an artist, what I am thinking about when I’m writing is telling a good story."

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