Black Lightning: Jordan Calloway to get a Painkiller spinoff

Black Lightning’s Painkiller could be getting a well-deserved spinoff if The CW chooses to pick up a backdoor pilot within the show’s fourth season.

The CW has been putting out great shows for over a decade. Their DC Comics content has taken on a life of its own because of the growth of the Arrowverse. Among the newer shows under that umbrella is Black Lightning.

A show starring a character (Black Lightning) that a lot of non-comic book fans may not have known off originally, it has achieved great success by becoming immensely popular. On top of that, the show has continued to get better with each episode – this was especially the case with season 3. Each of the characters evolved and became better than before. Chief among them was Khalil Payne a.k.a. Painkiller.

Now, it seems like he may get an even greater chance to continue evolving.

Painkiller will star in a Black Lightning spin-off

After his death, Khalil became a deeper character. He was no longer the complaining, annoying teenager that he once was and his new villainous persona helped that. After regaining his old memories he struggled to keep the evil and more aggressive side of him in check. It added a must needed layer to his persona. It looks like the people at The CW have noticed. According to Deadline.com, a Painkiller spin-off is in development in the form of a backdoor pilot.

According to Deadline, Painkiller’s backdoor pilot will be the seventh episode of season 4 of Black Lightning (which premieres in February 2021). It will be written, produced, and directed by Black Lightning’s showrunner Salim Akil.

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This a phenomenal idea as it uses Black Lightning as a way to test how a Painkiller show would be received by fans (much like Arrow did with the well-received Green Arrow and The Canaries last season). Since they have a great social media team, they’ll be able to gage how people respond to the pilot episode.

This is a great opportunity for Jordan Calloway. If the spinoff episode can turn into an entire series, he could have a lot more to work with as an actor. It could also work for the other stars of Black Lightning. Especially China Anne McClain (who plays Jennifer Pierce/Lightning). Her character is someone this writer feels deserves a spinoff as well. Hopefully, Painkiller will be well-received and The CW can expand the DC Comics TV Universe to an even greater extent.

What do you think? Are you up for a Black Lightning spinoff focusing on Painkiller? Let us know in the comments below.