Emmy Award winner Wayne Brady is about to get super. The Whose Line Is It Anyway? alum has joined The CW's Black Lightning in a recurring role.
According to ET, Brady will play Tyson Sykes, aka Gravedigger, "a World War II-era member of the U.S. military who became a 'super soldier' 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. His aim to create a sovereign land for metahumans within Markovia sets him on a collision course with the ASA and Black Lightning."
In the comics, the Gravedigger mantle has been worn by two separate characters. Sykes was created by Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann and Joe Bennett for 2008's Checkmate #24, while Ulysses Hazard debuted in 1977's Men of War by David Michelinie and Ed Davis. Hazard was a WWII solider who trained himself to become an expert combatant; Sykes, on the other hand, was a Checkmate agent who developed telepathic powers after injecting himself with a solution derived from Starro DNA. As such, it looks like The CW series will combine both characters' backstories for Brady's version of Gravedigger.
Brady has enjoyed a long career in television and film. His past credits include The Bold and the Beautiful, Colony, How I Met Your Mother and Everybody Hates Chris. He has also appeared in Broadway productions of Kinky Boots and Hamilton. He currently hosts Let's Make a Deal.
Airing Mondays at 9 pm ET on The CW, 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, Damon Gupton as Billy Henderson and James Remar as Peter Gambi.