AceShowbiz -

Ahead of its 2017 upfront presentation, The CW has been making decisions about which pilots will be picked up to series for the 2017-2018 TV season. Several projects have just been given series orders by the network, including "Black Lightning", "Life Sentence" and "Dynasty".

Based on DC Comics character, "Black Lightning" stars Cress Williams as the titular character a.k.a. Jefferson Pierce, who is forced to come out of his retirement as a vigilante due to a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang. Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil, Mara Brock Akil and Sarah Schechter serve as executive producers.

"Life Sentence" is a dramedy starring "Pretty Little Liars" vet Lucy Hale as a woman who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. She finds out that she's not dying after all, and then has to learn to live with the choices she made when she decided to "live like she was dying." Dylan Walsh, Jayson Blair, Carlos PenaVega, Elliot Knight and Brooke Lyons are also in the cast.

As for "Dynasty", the reboot to the 1980s soap hails from "Gossip Girl" creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. It will follow two of America's wealthiest families, the Carringtons and the Colbys, as they feud for control over their fortune and their children. Grant Show, Elizabeth Gillies, Nathalie Kelley, James Mackay, Alan Dale, Sam Adegoke, Robert Christopher Riley and Rafael de la Fuente star on the revival.

The CW has also greenlit "Valor", a serialized military drama and conspiracy thriller. It centers on chopper pilots Nora and Gallo (Matt Barr) who, after a botched mission in Somalia leaves a pair of American servicemen in enemy hands, train for a rescue operation, and only they share a very large secret from the initial operation - a secret that must never come to the attention of the Army.