FOX's Black Lightning; TBS' World's End; and USA's Damnation.
FOX's BLACK LIGHTNING
- Just a few days after hitting the marketplace, drama project Black Lightning based on the DC Comics character of the same name has landed at FOX with a pilot production commitment. Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil are writing the pilot. The trio executive produce with Sarah Schechter. Warner Bros. Television, Berlanti Productions and Akil Productions are producing. The project centers on Jefferson Pierce, who hung up his suit and his secret identity years ago. However, with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he'll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante Black Lightning.
USA's DAMNATION
- Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie has signed on to helm the pilot for the drama written by Tony Tost. He and his producing partner Gillian Berrie has also joined the pilot as executive producers.
TBS' WORLD'S END
- Aasif Mandvi, Maya Kazan, Robin Bartlett, Ajay Naidu and James Ortiz will co-star on the comedy pilot starring Hamish Linklater and Wanda Sykes. Mandvi will play Dr. White, the head of Kingsley Hospital who is pretentious, eccentric and possesses a wild gleam in his eye that suggests he should be an inmate and not an administrator. Kazan will play Maggie, who initially flirts with Henry (Linklater), then bites his hand and claims he assaulted her. Bartlett will play Hildy, who suffers from catastrophic depression and year-round seasonal affect disorder. Naidu will play Karl Magnus, a mathematic genius who becomes an unlikely revolutionary leader amongst the inmates. Ortiz will play Martin, Dr. White's prized patient and mentee who gives every impression of being on the staff. However, he is the deeply troubled subject of Dr. White's book and suffers from multiple personality disorder.
