In Black Lightning Season 4, Jefferson Pierce is still recuperating after the war that damaged his city of Freeland and his relationships. Showrunner Salim Akil shared that this final season will be about reconciling with trauma in the Black community.
"I think I just wanted to go back to dealing with the family," Akil told EW. "We had ended on such a broad note of ending the Markovian war. I wanted to then go back to the family and see what trauma looks like and how do you go about healing yourself."
In Season 3, Markovians descend upon Freeland and abduct metahuman children for experimentation. They also take Lynn Stewart, brilliant neuroscientist and ex-wife of Jefferson, and force her to create a meta-human serum for them. The A.S.A. asks Black Lightning for help, and he, along with a super-powered team, plan an attack against the Markovians and infiltrate the enemy base.
As the Pierce family saga has ramped up, there have been some serious losses. Jefferson's own superhero daughters Jennifer/Lightning and Annissa/Thunder have killed people, much to their father's dismay. To make matters worse, Deputy Chief Bill Henderson and Jefferson's longtime friend, is shot and killed in the battle against the Markovians.
"If you remember," continued Akil, "Jefferson is depressed because his daughters have killed people, his wife has killed in people in this war, and he feels like he's let them down and it's his responsibility. Trauma changes people. So I wanted to explore the idea of trauma, especially in African American families, because not all of us but far too many of us live in areas where gun violence and crime is prevalent on a daily basis, and nobody is really doing anything to try and solve it or report it anymore."
In Season 4, Episode 1, "The Book of Reconstruction: Chapter One: Collateral Damage," Jefferson is still processing all that transpired from last year. He no longer suits up, despite his trusted ally Gambi warning him of the dangers of using his powers without his suit, but the showrunner still believes there's hope for recovery.
Said Akil, "So there's a lot of trauma out there, and I just wanted to say to the people watching, 'Hey, in order to heal, you have to talk about things. You have to deal with them and you have to seek help.' I think if there's a theme this year, someone said that 'trauma is sort of the big bad this season."
Black Lightning stars Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning, China Anne McClain as Jennifer Pierce, Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce/Thunder, Christine Adams as Lynn Stewart, Marvin "Krondon" Jones III as Tobias Whale and James Remar as Peter Gambi. New episodes air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
Source: EW