Based on the characters from DC, The CW series Black Lightning follows Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), the father of two daughters (Nafessa Williams and China Anne McClain) and the principal of a charter high school, who also happens to be the masked vigilante Black Lightning. Gifted with the superhuman power to harness and control electricity, Pierce struggles to find a balance between using his power as a superhero to protect young people and families in a neighborhood overrun by gang violence and being there for his family.

While at the TCA Press Tour presentation for The CW, Collider got the opportunity to sit down with actor Cress Williams to talk about being a self-proclaimed nerd, what it’s like to get to be a superhero, the appeal of Black Lightning, what he’s most looking forward to audiences getting to see with this TV series, the family drama at its core, not being a part of the Arrow-verse, villains, stunts, and the journey of Season 1.

Collider:  So, what’s it like to get to be a superhero? Is it what you’d imagined?

CRESS WILLIAMS:  It’s what I’d imagined and more, actually. I’ve always wanted to play a superhero, so I’m getting what I wanted. It’s a mixture of so many different things. It’s something different, every single day. Some days it’s just fun, some days it’s physically taxing, some days it’s just about special effects, and some days it’s like being a kid. When you’re on wires and they’re lifting you up out of the air, you’re like, “Oh, my god, this is so much fun!” Some days, you’re just exhausted. It’s everything!

People cannot get enough of these kinds of stories, as we can see with the popularity of comic book and superhero TV shows and movies. Who, in your life, is freaking out the most that you’re playing this character?

WILLIAMS:  I am a self-proclaimed nerd and I have tons of friends who are nerds, so they’re all equally like, “Woah!” They also know that I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. Being 6'5" and broad-shouldered, they’re like, “Yes, finally!” I think they’re all equally excited.

This is not a superhero origin story. It’s more of a rebirth of a man who’s trying to learn from his past mistakes. Was that part of what made this appealing for you?

WILLIAMS:  For me, the appeal is two-fold. I’m a fan of the genre and I watch all of these things. I like the variety. We usually get origin stories, so I like that this is a different story. And then, the appeal, as an actor, is that I am the age of and am physically going through things like Jefferson. I’m happy that I’m not having to pretend I’m younger than I am. I’m playing what’s going on. If I wake up, after a day, and my knee hurts, I can just let that go because that’s who Jefferson is.

We’ve seen black superheroes in supporting roles, but now they’re really taking the lead, with Luke Cage, Black Lightning and Black Panther, and hopefully, that’s only the beginning. What are you, personally, most looking forward to audiences getting to see with this character?

WILLIAMS:  That they get to see an older person doing these things and being pertinent and active. Ultimately, I’m really happy for us, as African Americans, that kids at Halloween will want to be Luke Care or Black Panther or Black Lightning, and that eventually the girls will want to be Lighting and Thunder. Honestly, I hope that we also see Hispanic superheroes and Asian superheroes. I grew up watching television. I’m a television addict. I had all these heroes, but they didn’t look like me. I hope that this opens up, so that next year, we see a wide variety. It sounds so pie in the sky, but I want to see everybody represented. I want everybody to be able to go, “Yeah, that’s me! I see me on screen!”

Jefferson Pierce is somebody who struggles a bit with being a superhero. Do you think he’ll struggle more or less, once he realizes that his daughters are going through it, too?

WILLIAMS:  You know, I think he’s gonna struggle more. I’m sure there will be a bit of relief because, at least when they’re home, there won’t be secrets. Right now, he has to keep the secret when he’s at home, so eventually, he won’t have to keep the secret anymore. But then, he’ll have to worry about his kids, so that’s an extra worry. All the while, he’s getting older and trying to use these powers. It’s never gonna get easier, but that’s good television. It shouldn’t get easier. It should only get harder.

Black Lightning does not look or feel like the other DC superhero shows on The CW. Was it important to you that this show really set itself apart, in that sense?

WILLIAMS:  It’s not so much that it was important to me that it’s different, it just is. From the moment I read the script for the first episode, it was really clear, the story that we were telling. That’s also what got me excited. It’s that superhero thing, but it’s also all of these other things that I love, as a person and as an actor. It wasn’t so much having to be different. We just have to tell the story that we want to tell, and it just happens to be different. It happens to not only be unlike anything else on The CW, but it’s unlike anything else on television. I’m so thankful that The CW has let us do it, and that they didn’t want to start changing it to fit everything else. That would have done it a disservice. They were bold enough to say, “We’re gonna step out, take a risk, and do something completely different.” I hope that spawns more of it, for everybody else.

At the same time, are you disappointed that you won’t get to be a part of any team-ups in the Arrow-verse?

WILLIAMS:  I don’t know. Part of it is that they’re in Vancouver and we’re in Atlanta. Once I realized that the daughters are gonna develop, I was like, “Oh, this is actually gonna be, somewhere down the line, a bit of a team.” And just as an actor thing, I’ve heard that those cross-overs are grueling and that they destroy people, so I’m all right. I’m 40-some years old, and I’m already aching. I don’t need anymore.

What’s it like to put on the superhero suit, for the first time, and do scenes as Black Lightning?

WILLIAMS:  It’s interesting, you go through weeks and weeks of fittings that literally happen every single week. Every fitting is just a stage closer. When you go in, it’s an hour plus process for each fitting because you’ve gotta get into it and they’ve gotta mark it. So, the day of the final fitting, where I got the chance to put it on completely and everything was on and working and lit up, I felt like I wanted to go through a wall. I was like, “I wanna beat up something right now!” And then, the reality of being in it and working, you start to learn what’s a little uncomfortable. Then, it’s a work in progress to refine it, fix it and update it. The suit will look the same to the world, but it’s slightly different now and it’s a lot more comfortable to be in, long term.

We’ve seen Lala, who leads to Tobias, so what can you say about how the villains of this show will affect the season?

WILLIAMS:  It just deepens. I don’t even know the full story, but you’re gonna learn more about the villains that we’ve already established. They’re gonna deepen, but then other forces are gonna be revealed. It’s like the folds of the onion, where there’s more going on than just that. From what I’ve been told, when we get into Season 2, more villains will come.

After having nearly a decade away from superheroing, just how hard is it for him to get back into the suit and find his superhero groove again?

WILLIAMS:  We address that a little bit. First of all, it’s age. He heals almost twice as fast as a normal human being, but with age, that’s slowing down. Taking in the electrical energy is taking a toll on his body and he even more so needs the suit to help avoid destruction. It’s like anything else. I used to play basketball quite a few days a week, but I can’t play a lick now because if I get out there, my knee just swells up like a balloon. Unfortunately, you just can’t do it anymore. I’m hoping that science will create new limbs and that we’ll learn how to build cartilage.

Getting to do action and stunts must be so much fun, but it also must feel a bit more awkward to do than the final product makes it appear. Do you have to just have faith that they’ll make it all look cool?

WILLIAMS:  Yeah. I’m surprised when I see it, to see how it looks. There’s things that we’ve done that I can’t wait to see. I’ve had certain days on wires where I’ve been like, “Man, this hurts! It’s actually painful! This is not fun!” But then, I’ve had certain days on wires where I’ve been like, “This is so much fun!” I trust our team. When they say, “Trust me, this may feel awkward, but it will look really cool,” I actually trust them. They haven’t proved me wrong yet. Apparently, there are a couple different harnesses and I’m told that the harness that usually everybody doesn’t like is the harness that I like. It’s kind of weird. But the first time I got in a harness I was like, “I’m glad I’m done having kids ‘cause I don’t think I can have any now.”

What are you most excited about with the journey in this first season?

WILLIAMS:  I’m excited about all of it. The show is Black Lightning, it’s true, but it’s such an ensemble. They’ve written a script and a story that has so many different threads. I love when I get to read some of the backstory of Tobias, or we get a little bit more of Gambi or Anissa. I love watching that and hearing that. I’m most excited about people seeing the entire world of it. We’ve been sitting with this for almost a year now, so I’m excited for the world to see it. Now that we’ve seen some of it, we’re all like, “Okay, now the world needs to see it!” We want to know if they’ll see what we see, whether it will be what we all hope it’s gonna be, and whether it will be received in the way that we hope it will. We’re just anxiously hoping that it is.

Black Lightning airs on Tuesday nights on The CW.