Shocking! Black Lightning in the News

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Casting news:

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Wayne Brady will be looking to make a deal with the metahumans of Freeland, in a recurring role on The CW’s Black Lightning.

TVLine has learned that the game show host and Emmy-winning Whose Line Is It Anyway? improv artist is set to play the DC Comics character of Tyson “Gravedigger” Sykes, who will first air in early 2020.
 

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“Gravedigger” is described as a World War II-era member of the U.S. military who became a “supersoldier” after a secret experiment gifted him with enhanced strength, agility, tactical genius and hand-to-hand combat expertise. After the war, Sykes defected to the country of Markovia rather than return to a segregated America.

Sykes’ aim to create a sovereign land for metahumans within Markovia will set him on a collision course with both the ASA and Black Lightning.

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Season 3 premiere review: https://io9.gizmodo.com/black-lightnings-season-3-premiere-brought-metahuman-in-1838951612

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Because “The Book of Occupation: Chapter One: Birth of the Blackbird” is a season premiere, it feels like a particularly busy episode at more than a few points. That is understandable, given the amount of story that it’s trying to pack in. But what stands out about the episode are the small touches here and there that make the way Freeland’s falling into chaos feel, for lack of a better phrase, grounded in reality. Jennifer and Anissa’s parents are literally locked up in a military-run camp, but both young women find the time to go about their normal lives because they have to, even though their worlds are falling apart. You see glimpses of other character’s lives, and thought the specifics may be somewhat different, everyone’s getting by and keeping on. Because to stop and take stock of what’s unfolding around them might end up being too much for them.

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No new episode this week, BTW. 3.05 is next Monday.

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Cress Williams interview: https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2019/11/04/black-lightning-prepares-for-crisis-markovia-and-living-in-a-warzone

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Which of your costars would you say you have a close relationship with?

Just about most of them. I love working with James . We have that kind of father/son dynamic, and he's just such a great human being. Off camera, we talk about so many different subjects. I love working with Damon , and he's a theater guy, so we talk about theater. Christine and I, we talk about family. I think those dynamics are fun both on-screen and off-screen.

He also clears up Jefferson and Lynn's marital status; even he was confused about that!

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CW mid-season scheduling: Black Lightning season finale will be March 9. I'm pretty sure they have the same 16 episodes for this season; so if the mid-season finale is episode 9 like last year, the mid-season premiere should be January 27.

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Black Lightning in the first promo for the Crisis crossover:

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China Anne McClain interview, https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2019/11/11/black-lightnings-china-anne-mcclain-flirts-with-destruction

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With everything that’s happening and the fact that Jennifer is going to have to play a role in the fight against the ASA, how are things between her and her father going to change?

I think that they're going to get closer. You know what I'm saying? In the past, we've seen that the family is close, but the events that happen this season are going to have to bring them closer, because right now she's being so secretive and it’s really destructive. The road she's going down is destructive. She shouldn't be trusting Odell, and she's not trusting her family. She's not trusting Jefferson by not telling him this information. So, I think that once he finds out and everything comes to light about what she's been doing behind closed doors, it's going to bring them closer. Like I said with Anissa earlier, it's going to make him realize that he has to be closer to her.

What’s been your favorite scene this season?

I don’t even have to think about it. It’s when I flew up into space. Yes! That was so much fun to shoot. When you're doing it, it's just green screen. So, you really have to use your imagination and listen to the people around you when they tell you what it's going to look like after they do all the visual effects. But after really trying to just throw myself into it and trusting people, knowing what they were going to do on their end, it turned out so well. I was really happy with how it looked and the music and everything else.

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Interview with James Remar about Gambi: https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2019/11/13/james-remar-talks-survival-family-and-powering-up-black-lightning

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What’s Gambi’s main goal this season?

It’s the same goal he’s always had to protect his loved ones and make as much progress as he can make towards reconciling his past and continuing in the amends process. You know, cleaning up the mess that he made as a younger man. That's been his life's goal for a long time. And I think emerging from the underworld would be a nice thing to do.

Yeah, you’ve been isolated from the rest of Freeland for a while.

I get to have very intimate scenes with Nafessa and Chantal. You know, Grace Choi and Anissa, and also Jefferson, Lynn and the family, as well as some others that you’ll see a little later. But being able to move freely about living my life in the open air and sunshine is something that he certainly hasn’t been able to do for a while.

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Marvin “Krondon” Jones III interview: https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2019/11/15/black-lightnings-marvin-krondon-jones-iii-is-downbut-not-out

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[Tobias] still has a lot of grit, though. You see it in that episode where they’re torturing him. Is there going to be a lot of hurt coming for a lot of people once he gets out.

I hope so! Don’t we all hope that there is? That would make for good television, I think.

The pit is giving us a chance to really see his internal strength. For two years, we've witnessed his physical strength, his ways of manipulation and things like that. I think this year we're starting to see the internal, mental, emotional and spiritual strength that Tobias has. What we witness in episode 3, for him to endure such torture and to bounce back the way he did, I think shows strength from him that we've yet to see in the previous seasons. So, I love that we're exploring that.

What would you say is Tobias’s take on Agent Odell?

I think Agent Odell creates space and playing field for Tobias to not seem so bad, even to himself. Not just to the viewer and the neighbors in Freeland, but even to himself. You’re starting to see now that he might be even more justified than he thought in being who he is. It's interesting, because I believe that Tobias was aware of Odell’s existence the whole time. You know, like, this is something that has been a looming thing for him, and now it's coming to a head and we're actually able to witness what's transpiring.

What makes you think he’s been aware of Odell?

Well, because Odell is part of the ASA, and the ASA has been around for a long time. If you look back to season one and Jill Scott’s character, we've known about the ASA. We’ve been hearing about them for quite some time. They've had several different facets and levels that have been revealed over time, but we've known about them, even going back to episode one.

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Short Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover promos have been released; the one featuring Black Lightning starts at .30s in this video that has all of them together:

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New-ish promo art:

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Cress Williams interview (also a video): http://www.ksitetv.com/interviews-2/black-lightning-cress-williams-on-freelands-fate-new-super-friends/199954/

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The occupation of Freeland left Jefferson Pierce locked up for several weeks — and that’s prompting a lot of change for Williams’ character.

“I think he’s angrier, and, I think he has the right to be. Going from Season 1, this school was successful, his daughters were safe, and then, you progress to being locked up over a month, and then,coming out to an occupation, and nobody is safe. He’s tried to do things the right way and play by the rules, and then, he sees the repercussions of that. So he’s angry,” Williams explains.

Could Freeland still be redeemed?

“I think so,” he says. “Maybe I’m just an optimist. I know that we have to have conflict, obviously, but, somewhere, way down the line, when we’re doing the final episode, I hope we have left Freeland better than we found it. I do think this whole occupation won’t last forever, but also, I hope that we’ve cleaned up the streets. It’s not going to become Mayberry, but, I do hope that it’s better than we found it. You don’t have a show if you don’t have conflict, so it’s going to take a while.”

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Black Lightning on the COIE poster:

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Interview with Christine Adams at DC: 'Christine Adams on Doing Right and Being Wronged'

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What do you hope fans take away from Lynn and her journey this season?

I think right now they just feel really bad for her because she’s clearly about to descend into a bit of a drug mania. Just broadly speaking, what we’re doing, which we haven’t done before, is we’ve shifted away from that family-centric version of Black Lightning. We’ve kind of moved more into the comic book version of Black Lightning, which I think is quite right. I think that’s what we should be doing because we are a DC show, but nevertheless, it’s a transition. So, in terms of what the audience will take away, I’m not sure because I think we almost have two camps right now. We’ve got the camp that’s like, “Yes, DC! Yes, crossover! Yes, ‘Infinite Earths’! Yes, Markovians!” But then you’ve got people that are like, “I want to see the family. I want to see Jeff and Lynn! I want to see the girls!”

So, how do we marry these two things? I think that’s sort of where we are in season three. In some ways, we’ve been really successful. In other ways, the jury’s still out.

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'Black Lightning star teases his 'surprising' 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' entrance' - has a few quotes about Black Lightning's involvement in the COIE Crossover:

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“Black Lightning gets pulled into the conflict in a very surprising way,” says Williams. “He’s not prepared for it. So, he doesn’t know these people. He’s getting introduced into the world for the very first time, and so there’s some conflict early on when he’s trying to figure out, who are you people and why am I here?” He adds, “He’s kind of left off-center, which was really fun to play.”

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The decision to formally integrate Black Lightning into the crossover and Arrowverse was “very late in the game,” according to crossover executive producer Marc Guggenheim. “The crossover was not originally designed around him,” he says, explaining that the 3,000 miles between the Black Lightning and Arrowverse productions presented quite an obstacle. Nevertheless, Guggenheim and Black Lightning showrunner Salim Akil ignored those realities and put their heads together to figure how this could work, and in the end they did.

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 At Rolling Stone: Inside 'Crisis on Infinite Earths,' CW's DC Crossover Event, about Black Lightniing taking part in this year's crossover:

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Black Lightning, meanwhile, not only takes place on another parallel Earth, but films thousands of miles away from the other shows, in Georgia. Guggenheim initially assumed that, at most, Black Lightning star Cress Williams might be able to shoot a brief cameo (which would be his first onscreen interaction with Amell, Gustin, and the others). But when Guggenheim called that show’s executive producer, Salim Akil, he says Akil told him, “‘If Black Lightning’s going to be a part of it, it has to be more than just a cameo. It has to be a meaningful appearance.'” Akil’s team helped clear Williams’ calendar, while playing the same role the producers on all the individual series do when their characters participate in a crossover, Guggenheim says: “Keeping us honest, doing dialogue passes, reviewing cuts, and making sure the version of Black Lightning that we were depicting was the correct version.”

Thank you Akil!

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Black Lightning in the latest crossover trailer:

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The COIE crossover starts on Sunday night with Supergirl, but the only part that Black Lightning is in is the The Flash episode on Tuesday.

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'Cress Williams on Black Lightning Joining 'Fictional' Arrowverse Heroes, Being the Object of Costume Envy'

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TVLINE | Does Jefferson come to us in Part 3, or do we seek him out?
I guess it’s a little bit of both…? He gets pulled into the conflict, but by the definition of getting “pulled in,” you’re coming to him at the same time.

TVLINE | In the promos he looks a bit angry….
Yes! It’s surprising to him. It’s not a situation where somebody came to him and said, “Hey, we’d like you to do this….” It comes as a shock, and that’s why he seems a little angry.

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TVLINE | Because Black Lightning Season 1 had that mention of Supergirl, but we didn’t know if it was simply as a comic book character or a comic book based on a real person.
I’m not the 100-percent authority on it, but based on how we’ve been dealing with it, she was strictly a fictional character — like in our world today. She was a comic book character not necessarily based on a real person — in his mind.

TVLINE | Does Black Lightning bring a peculiar set of skills to the situation?
Besides, of course, the electrical power, there’s a certain level of savvy — because this is something he’s been doing longer than everyone else.

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TVLINE | Grant Gustin probably has it best right now, basically in comfy high-tech pajamas.
Oh, totally! But it’s interesting — it’s a cool suit, but he’ll be like, “Yeah, but this part rubs a little bit….” Everybody has something like, “Yeah, this doesn’t quite work” or “This is a little uncomfortable.” For Elongated Man (The Flash‘s Hartley Sawyer), once his mask is on it has to stay on all day, because it’s glued. So when he saw me peel off mine, he was like, “How did you do that?!” I’m like, “There are magnets attached to my face, and there are magnets in the mask….” He’s like, “They told me [glue] is the only way it could happen!” Yeah, well, they lied to you. Because this is the way I do it!

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Pic showing the magnets for BL's mask:

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Mid-season premiere (episode 3.10) will be January 20.

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I hope the casts from these to shows can get to crossover more often; new Crisis promo art:

https://twitter.com/blacklightning/status/1208069780768526336

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Cress Williams interview at Comics Beat (there are a few mistakes in their transcript, though):

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At San Diego Comic-Con, Cress mentioned that this season would be global, he expanded on that for us, saying:
“I meant global in the sense that we have a foreign power that’s trying to invade our governments and lock everything down. So, this season is so much more than corner boys dealing drugs and Tobias Whale trying to take over the city for his own power. It is global and it’s going to get even more global, and bigger and better. Hopefully, the fans will dig it.”

With this global threat that expands throughout season three, is Jefferson operating at a higher stake this season, he told us:
“I wouldn’t say he’s operating at a higher stake this season, but I will say he is changing. I think he’s angrier and he has the right to be. Going from season one, where the school was successful and his daughters were safe and to now having been locked up and coming out to an occupation where no one is safe. So, you know, he’s tried to do things the right way and play by the rules and then and sees the repercussions of that, so he’s angry.”

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Is there a way for Freeland to prosper? He continued:
“Yeah, I think so, but maybe I’m just an optimist. I know that we have to have conflict obviously but, somewhere way down the line when we’re doing the final episode, I hope we have left Freeland better than we found it. I do think this whole occupation won’t last forever, but I also hope that in the end, we’ve cleaned up the streets. It’ll never be perfect and this isn’t Mayberry, but I do hope it ends up with some good. But you know, you don’t have a show without conflict, so it’ll take a while to get there, but it’ll be fun and messy getting there.”

 

Edited January 3, 2020 by Trini

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No new footage, but a new promo:

 

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Another season for Black Lightning!

 

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Black Lightning is nominated for a NAACP Image award; 'Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series':

 

The awards ceremony is February 22.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Trini

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The show has wrapped filming for the season? Or at least they had their party:

 

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New promo!

 

Jen against her family again??

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Nafessa shows how she transforms into Thunder:

 

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BTS photo from the writer of the last episode:

 

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Honorable Mention in this week's Performer of the week at TV Line:

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HONORABLE MENTION | Though Lynn Pierce’s Green Light addiction has been a rough storyline to witness on Black Lightning, it’s been a fine showcase for Christine Adams. And with Lynn’s abduction and relocation to a musty Markovian lab, Adams was given much to sink her teeth into, especially when Colonel Mosin disclosed that her addiction had been orchestrated by the ASA! Feeling helpless while pressured to do the colonel’s bidding, a despondent Lynn shrugged, “It doesn’t matter. Nothing does,” being in this grim situation and so far removed from family. And yet she still exhibited some spunk, as evidenced by her reciting a recipe for cookies, instead of the formula Dr. Jace sought. (“I would rather die than help Mosin weaponize metas,” she growled.) Of course, Mosin taunted his captive with a sweet Glimmer fix, wanting her brain at its sharpest. As Lynn eyed that tainted prize, before finally, begrudgingly taking it, Adams conveyed the life-or-death dilemma at hand.

 

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BTW, this Monday is a rerun; the next new episode is Feb. 24.

[Primal Slayer]

On 1/15/2020 at 4:09 PM, Trini said:

Nafessa shows how she transforms into Thunder:

 

That was a fun video, it takes her forever to transform into Thunder! I wonder if they'll ever change up her look? Im ready for her to get an updated costume.

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From TV Guide Black History Month articles:

'The Greatest Black Superheroes of All Time' - listing of Black super heroes in film and TV.

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Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), Jennifer Pierce (China Anne McClain), and Anissa Pierce (Nafessa Williams); Black Lightning

You know what's better than a black hero in a TV show? An entire family of them. The CW broke new ground with Black Lightning, a series that puts a black man (Cress Williams) and his two kickass daughters (China Anne McClain and Nafessa Williams) on the frontline against some of DC's biggest foes. And when the Pierces aren't taking down criminals, they're fighting racism, class warfare, and other social issues that affect people of color all over this country. (Also shout-out to Anissa [Williams] for being an out-and-proud lesbian, and to the Pierce family for showing her nothing but love and support.) When someone goes low, the Pierce family goes high, showing what it means to be a proud black family -- and one that can defeat any obstacle that comes their way. -Megan Vick

 

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Also from TV Guide: 'Black Lightning Is Most Powerful When Depicting How Black Families Triumph Over Trauma'

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Black Lighting debuted to glowing praise in January 2018, just one month before Black Panther's record-shattering release. Applauded for its elegant execution and the way it marked a sea change in representation, Black Lightning is the first TV show to focus on a black family of superheroes. It stars a black man with albinism, and bucks the stereotype of the homophobic black family by featuring a lesbian daughter whose parents are totally cool with her sexuality. As it ages, though, the show's trailblazing optics have become less noteworthy than its trailblazing story; Black Lightning is most intriguing as a family drama about how to assert power while living in a state of perpetual crisis. Amid circumstances that directly address or subtly hint at the traumas people in real communities of color face every day, the Pierces often prove that their real superpowers are not so much what they can do, but how they navigate worlds stacked against them. ...

 

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Comments from Wayne Brady and China Anne McClain here: 'Stars Reflect on Their Black Superhero Roles'

Also video:

 

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Extended trailer for the season finale:

 

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Cress Williams interview with teases for the finale at TV Line:

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TVLINE | I feel like this season, and especially since “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” has been Black Lightning‘s strongest ever. Did you feel the same while you were making it?

I was definitely excited about the crossover, because I thought that was going to be a game changer. And because we ended Season 2 with the idea that the Markovians were coming and there was this “metahuman arms race,” I thought that was a setup that lends itself for something bigger and better. We started off on the right foot, for sure.

TVLINE | I feel like everyone has had their moments, their arcs, as of late. Jefferson, and Lynn, the kids, Khalil….

Specifically Lynn, I noticed that once we got her into the lab and the whole meta thing, that it was going to give her much more to do. I know [Christine Adams] was really happy, and I was too, that we got to expand things for her.

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TVLINE | Wayne Brady has impressed me in this role, with the physicality and the fierceness, and just a touch of humor. And in your fight scenes, I’m not seeing a lot of doubling going on.

Oh, good, because then we’ve done our job! [Laughs] There is doubling going on, but we have ways to tweak that and fix that and hide it.

You know, he was a fan of the show and expressed interest in wanting to do it, and we were able to work it out. So he’s coming in fresh and excited. He’s never done this type of stuff before, the action, so it was interesting watching it from his eyes, like, the first time they put him on the wires and lifted him up in the air. You see that childlike enjoyment. So yeah, he’s brought a fresh energy to the show.

 

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Preview clip:

 

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Cress Williams interview at EW:

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"It's funny, because pretty much every time me and Wayne are in a scene together, there's always action and effects that are heavy in the scene. Just the way that it's structured, we don't have a scene where we sit down and we have a glass of wine, and we talk. It's always just like action, and so there's a lot of technical stuff that goes on," he says. "So when you're doing stuff like that, there's a lot of waiting. So I think for us, it was just the opportunity to chat here and there, and catch up, and watch him do things for the first time, like work nights and be put on wires, and all the technical things that happen, and watch him experience those for the first time, and chat about that. So it was fun."

 

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Cress Williams interview at DC:

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So, were you happy to finally get a new suit this season? How does the new one compare to the previous?

It’s amazing. This suit is so much more comfortable. I’ve been in it a lot this season, both on set and in Vancouver. What I’ve been doing and how much I’ve been in it couldn’t have happened in the old suit. I don’t think I could really sit with the old suit.

Didn’t you say at one point it took you an hour to get into your previous suit?

Originally it was. We eventually got it down to about twenty minutes. This one takes about fifteen minutes. But the old suit was about sixty pounds. I don’t know what this one weighs exactly, but it’s way lighter. There’s no restriction with my movement—I can touch my toes and pick things up.

 

(They put this up today, but this sounds like an older interview; maybe around the time of the Crisis crossover.)

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6 hours ago, Trini said:

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Jeez, if I didnt know any better I'd think that the series was canceled or that they are leaving.

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'...Stars and Showrunners Reveal Their Favorite Episodes of Their Own Shows'

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China Anne McClain - Black Lightning

S3E9 - "My favorite episode to shoot was 'The Book of Resistance: Chapter Four: Earth Crisis.' It's my favorite because this episode contained the most action for my character since the start of the show, and I LOVE doing fight sequences."

 

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Nafessa Williams - Black Lightning

S3E12, "The Book of Markovia: Chapter 3" - "Episode 12 in Season 3 [of Black Lightning] is my favorite. I love the girl on girl fight between Grace and Thunder. It's sexy and fun to watch. Definitely one I would recommend for a rewatch."

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