Black Lightning creator: We always intended to end with Season 4, but I had ideas for a fifth and sixth season

Deadline

Salim Akil says the plan always to end with a fourth season, even before the pandemic. However, he tells Deadline, "we’ve always had ideas for a Season 5, or a Season 6. We’ve always had places that we want to go. I always plan like that. I never wait; I’m always thinking about the next season. So, we could have gone on to a Season 5. We’ve had so many stories to tell because there’s so many stories out there." Since the Painkiller spinoff is dead, Akil was asked about other potential Black Lightning spinoffs. "I think that if there was a possibility, the possibility would land in Thunder and Grace and Lightning," he says. "I think that that could be a wonderful show. People would be familiar with the characters, be familiar with their backstory. They would be familiar with their wants, their needs and their goals. I think that that trio of women are just very dynamic and talented, so I could see something like that, for sure."