Jordan Calloway as Painkiller

The DC superhero series Black Lightning will launch a spinoff series, Painkiller.

Painkiller will star Jordan Calloway, who reprises his Black Lightning role as the character. 

Here’s a series overview from Deadline.

Khalil Payne is a man ridden with the guilt of his troubled past from his former life in Freeland City. There, as a super-enhanced killing machine known as Painkiller, he was both a member of Tobias Whale’s gang and a weapon of Agent Odell and the shadowy ASA.

After attempting to bury the darker, devastatingly lethal Painkiller part of his persona, Khalil has distanced himself away from everyone he knows and loves in a new city, Akashic Valley, in order to find peace, but peace never comes easy for men with pasts like his. As his violent, destructive history crashes his idyllic new beginning, Khalil is thrusted back into action with a new mission: bring justice where he once gave out punishment. But to do that, he will first have to deal with and harness his darker side.

If you’re excited for Painkiller, you actually don’t have too long to wait. The CW plans to air a backdoor pilot for the series as part of Black Lightning’s upcoming season. That episode will be the seventh of the original series’ fourth season. (Season 4 of Black Lightning premieres in February 2021, meaning the Painkiller backdoor pilot will debut in March 2021.)

Painkiller marks the first new DC pilot for the upcoming TV season. The character first appeared in DC comics in 1995, created by Tony Isabella with Eddie Newell.

Black Lightning showrunner Salim Akil will write and direct. Akil also executive produces alongside Greg Berlanti.

So, what do you think of the CW’s plan to launch a Painkiller series? Let us know in the comments if you’ll be watching.

Source: Deadline