SDCC17: DCTV Previews Upcoming TV Series

Jul 23, 2017

SDCC17 INFO: DCTV, the collective term for all DC Comics television series aired on the CW network, had its panel today. Representatives from all six series, including the 2018 Black Lightning, were there.

Black Lightning 

Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) has the power to control electricity but stopped using those abilities to have a quiet life as a high school principal with two daughters in New Orleans. Now, with new villains appearing, old friends showing up and his daughters having abilities of their own, his past has been unearthed. The New Orleans location is an indicator of how the series will tackle issues facing both the African-American community and the nation as a whole. Executive producers, and spouses, Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil went into more detail about that at the panel.

“The most interesting thing about this family is not that they’re African-American. The challenge is not giving into the idea that we need to be perfect. Yes, there definitely is a problem with police brutality and we will get into that but there is also a huge problem of us killing each other and we don’t mind addressing that.” -Salim Akil.

“We get to shade in the humanity of those who need that help in our communities. We also get to shade in why our bad guys are bad. That’s an opportunity that we can add from our perspective of what’s happening in our real world today and hopefully help.” -Brock Akil

One of those old friends showing up is Peter Gambi, played by James Remar. Remar was previously on Fox’s Gotham but the casting could also be a reference to his portrayal of Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

Anissa Pierce (Nafessa Williams) was already confirmed to be a lesbian like her comics counterpart at the ATX Television Festival and it wasn’t addressed again today.

https://youtu.be/7dM8dI_-P9o

Black Lightning premieres in 2018.

https://twitter.com/lovsforselina/status/888952218560471040

Supergirl 

Kara (Melissa Benoist) will explore what it means to be human. At the same time, four new actors (Adrian Pasdar, Carl Lumbly, Yael Grobglas and Emma Tremblay) join new showrunners,  Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner. Pasdar will be this season’s villain; a ruthless real estate developer that refuses to accept “no” as an answer that in no way resembles real life events. Grobglas is a secondary villain, Psi. She first fought Supergirl in the comics in 1982. Tremblay is another original character, Ruby, a young girl who idolizes Supergirl. The biggest casting scoop is Lumbly as M’yrnn J’onzz. He previously played him in the animated Justice League films.

Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima) will be seen in fewer episodes this season. The announcement was denounced by many online as lessening the LGBTQUIA_ content on the series since Sawyer is in a serious relationship with Kara’s sister, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh). However, Queller said today, “Most of you know that Floriana is not able to return for the full season but that being said we have an amazing beautiful story to tell that really honors the love between these two women.”

Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) will be seen in more episodes this season although not as a full cast member like season one.

https://youtu.be/DaI6dcoRRQQ

Supergirl returns October 9th at 8 PM.

The Flash

After having speedsters as the villains for the first three seasons, season four is mixing it up with Clifford DeVoe/The Thinker (Neil Sandilands). Helping him out is an original character, The Mechanic (Kim Engelbrecht), an engineer who designs all his technology.

Audiences cheered as Danny Trejo was announced as a new cast member. As Breacher, Trejo will be an inter-dimensional bounty hunter who could be an antagonist depending on the situation and whether it threatens his daughter, Cynthia Reynolds (Jessica Camacho). Reynolds first appeared on the series last season for multiple episodes and is a possible romantic interest for Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes).

The showrunners admitted the tone will change.

“This season we’re gonna try to lighten up a bit.  Last season got pretty dark, so we’re trying to get back to the jokes.”

Tom Felton is not returning to the series this season.

https://youtu.be/bYDdu_mC6cI

The Flash will return October 10th at 8 PM.

The Legends of Tomorrow 

Damian Darhk (Neil McDonough) will continue being a main villain but without Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman). However, the season villain might just be Kuasa (Tracy Ifeachor). As the older sister of Mari (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and the granddaughter of series regular, Amaya Jiwe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), Kuasa in the animated Vixen series often wanted those powers for herself.

https://twitter.com/Saaaa_hot/status/888973351305134080

Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) and Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller) will be recurring guest roles. This is less screen time for Darvill and more for Miller compared with last season. Joining the heroes will be Zari Adrianna Tomaz (Tala Ashe) as a Muslim American hacker from the dystopian future.

“We’re not going to fix time immediately but we will deal with the issue of dinosaurs in Los Angeles.” -executive producer Marc Guggenheim

https://youtu.be/qwGNep39atY

Legends of Tomorrow returns October 10th at 9 PM.

Arrow

This season will have a “villainous cabal” fighting Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). The villain group includes Michael Emerson in an unnamed role and Anatoly Knyazev (David Nykl). Emerson is such a new addition that the rest of the cast found out he was joining them today in an interview with TVLine.

What the fuck? I’m just finding this now. Michael Emerson is on the show?…I’m a big fan of Michael Emerson, and I’m fucking fired up that he’s on the show. I’m gonna hate to kill him. -Stephen Amell

Obviously, the most currents events on the island will change Oliver. Also, there will be a lot more scenes with William (Jack Moore) as Oliver adjusts to being a dad. More details weren’t forthcoming because Guggenheim doesn’t want to admit who survived the island.

The new trailer kind of spoils that though…

https://youtu.be/DHZEeDEwRE0

Arrow returns October 12th at 9 PM.

iZombie

Liv (Rose McIver) is dealing with a population that knows about zombies instead of having it be a secret. This creates immense ethical questions especially after Liv’s city is cut off from the rest of the country in a sort of quarantine/social experiment. Can humans and zombies learn to coexist? Is being a zombie a viable option for the terminally ill? Should zombies be allowed to infect others?

Angus DeBeers (Robert Knepper) has been promoted to series regular.

https://youtu.be/3czXkhMwrPo

iZombie returns in 2018.

 

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