The CW’s is officially getting a new DC Comic series: Naomi. The network has greenlit a first season of Ava DuVernay’s comic adaptation.
Word on the series came back in December, when The CW announced that it was putting the adaptation into development and revealed back in March that Kaci Walfall (Person of Interest, The Equalizer) would lead the show after the network ordered a pilot for the project.
The character first appeared Naomi #1, written by Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walked, and illustrated Jamal Campbell in 2019.
The series will follow a young woman named Naomi McDuffie, who comes from an alternate Earth where an environmental disaster gave some people superpowers, rethe sulting in a devastating war. When Naomi’s family is threatened and she’s almost killed, her parents sent her to our Earth, where she grows up unaware of her origins. As is wont to happen, she eventually discovers her superpowers, and puts them to work.
Here’s the official description:
It follows a teenage girl’s journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the Multiverse. When a supernatural event shakes her hometown to the core, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes.
The series comes from DuVernay and Arrow writer and executive producer Jill Blankenship. It will also star Aidan Gemme, Cranston Johnson, Mary-Charles Jones, Mouzam Makkar, Will Meyers, Camila Moreno, Daniel Puig, Barry Watson, and Alexander Wraith.
The origin story of a new hero. NAOMI is now officially a series at @TheCW! Many hands/hearts went into bringing this saga to the screen. Thanks to my creative ace Jill Blankenship, the teams at @ARRAYNow + @warnerbrostv, and the extraordinary @kaciwalfall, our Naomi. You shine! pic.twitter.com/gUfh8S5u5k
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) May 24, 2021
It’s not immediately clear if Naomi will be part of The CW’s sprawling Arrowverse (which includes shows like Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Superman & Lois, and Black Lightning)—the network hasn’t said one way or the other—but it seems likely that she’ll eventually make her way over to it, given her multidimensional origins, and the fact that the franchise has pulled in other DC shows over the years. Supergirl, Stargirl, and Black Lightning (and even the DCEU, thanks to a cameo from Ezra Miller) all started elsewhere, and were eventually pulled in to the Arrowverse during crossover events.
According to Deadline, the series will be part of The CW’s 2021-2022 lineup, although there was no reveal on when it will officially debut.
