Forgive the mess as I’ve exploded in a rainbow puff of confetti. I previously wrote about the importance of Black Lightning as a series, paying particular attention to Anissa Pierce (Nafessa Williams) as a wlw. I’ll do a quick recap. Anissa, Jefferson’s oldest daughter has her own set of superpowers and will be televisions first openly lesbian superhero of color aka Thunder in a leading role.
Furthermore, she’s a black woman who is essentially bulletproof if she wants to be. I had hoped we’d see her canonical girlfriend, the Amazonian Grace Choi, around season two, best case scenario. Well, here I am proven wrong because Black Lightning is the gift that keeps on giving. The show not only is definitely casting Grace, they’re bringing her in as a recurring character for the very first season.
Chantal Thuy (Madame Secretary) will be playing Miss Grace, set to be a bartender and confidant of Anissa. According to Variety, Grace will be Anissa’s love interest. So there you have it, confirmed (as much as it can be) wlw leading ladies, and an interracial wlw relationship to boot where neither woman is white! Five points for diversity!
Choi was created by Tom Raney and Judd Winnick (who is also responsible for one of the only positive representations of an HIV+ superhero, Mia Dearden) and debuted in the series Outsiders back in the early 2000’s. Don’t look for the Akils to stay too close to her origin story, however. While Grace is an Amazon, from the Bana branch, her origin story is really, really dark. Far too dark for a DCTV show. Game of Thrones writers might even take a look at it and say “whoa, now hold on a minute!” We’ll definitely be looking forward to watching her on-screen story unfold through the Akil’s vision.
The show also recently announced the casting of Grammy award winner Jill Scott as villain Lady Eve, and Edwina Findley (If Loving You Is Wrong) as a recurring character. In August, the show cast LA rapper Marvin “Krondon” Jones III as villain Tobias Whale. Additionally, Billboard announced on Oct 24th in an interview that the Atlanta rapper Rome Fortune will also appear.
Black Lightning is currently slated for a midseason 2018 premiere on the CW.
