The CW drops our first look at Ava DuVernay’s new DC superhero series Naomi
Kaci Walfall stars as the teen superhero, who skateboards towards danger in this first-look clip
TV News Naomi
Even among the fairly diverse run of show’s that fill The CW’s superhero roster—which range from straight vigilante dramas to whatever you want to call the time traveling, joyful nonsense of Legends Of Tomorrow—the upcoming Naomi seems different. Partly, it’s just a matter of pedigree: The show is based around a DC Comics character created by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker, and Jamal Campbell, and comes to the small screen courtesy of Ava DuVernay.
But it’s also the promise of that simple, non-bombastic name, a trait the character shares with her comic book incarnation who, despite her powers, rarely uses any kind of superhero nickname. It’s grounded, in a way that it’s hard for a show called Supergirl or The Flash to be.
That’s certainly the impression given by the first-look teaser The CW released for the series today, introducing us to Kaci Walfall as its title character, who’s apparently enough of a comic book nerd that she skateboards toward a superhero battle featuring Superman, instead of away from it. (It’s some excitingly energetic skateboarding footage, too; Amanda Marsalis’ directing resembles very little of what we’ve seen from the Berlanti-verse superhero shows, typically workmanlike to the point of being generic, before.)
The footage—showed off today at DC’s FanDome event—is little more than a tease, ending when Naomi suddenly collapses after getting a mere glimpse at a caped figure flying overhead. But the promise of the series is palpable, despite the fact that we’re still waiting on a premiere date. (It’ll be some time in 2022, so don’t hold your breath, superhero stans.)
DuVernay—who’s working with Arrow’s Jill Blankenship on the project—has carved out a a very successful space in the world of TV production in recent years; Naomi joins a wide slate of shows bearing her creative imprint, most notably Queen Sugar on OWN.
20 Comments
“Ava DuVernay” and “the CW” are two phrases I did not expect to go together.
You said it, Chewie!
She turned down Black Panther because she wouldn’t be allowed full creative control, which speaks well of how much leeway she’s being given here.
Your gonna love this show, trust me. We finish production next February.
“It’s some excitingly energetic skateboarding footage, too”Yes, that’s what I’m looking for in a super hero show. The trailer didn’t make sense to me, as it didn’t show anything. Now that I know it’s on the CW, it makes perfect sense. Maybe Ava DuVernay can do something in the confines of a CW budget, but I’m skeptical.
I like Ava Duvernay but I don’t think even she can drag me back into the Arrowverse.
If this is anything like Superman + Lois and Stargirl, they don’t really qualify as Arrowverse shows anymore.
I like Stargirl, but is Superman & Lois any good? Or is it just angsty teenage nonsense and occasionally Superman punches a bad guy?
I could write multiple paragraphs about why the first season of S&L was a giant mess, and yet, the acting and cinematography (and scenes that were well-written in isolation, ignoring the small family of elephants in its room) kinda did carry it.Rather sad that the show started off with a giant bullet in its foot from that execrable Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover event. Poor show wasn’t even out yet and it had to eat its portion of shit off that steaming plate.
S&L is legitimately the best Superman content DC has put out in years. Which is possibly more damning of the rest of their output than it is an endorsement of S&L, but still, it’s very good.
Or is it just angsty teenage nonsense and occasionally Superman punches a bad guy?
Heh, I mean, it is that… but it’s also kinda good?
I really enjoyed Superman and Lois. Hoechlin and Tulloch really ground the whole thing and make it watchable. There is a lot of teen angst since they have teen sons but the focus is really on the family than high school drama (although be warned, there is high school drama).
To clarify pedantically: Stargirl is explicitly not in the Arrowverse (and uses alternate versions of characters that already appeared in the Arrowverse). Crisis ended by acknowledging that in some sense these two superhero universes (plus Doom Patrol and Titans, iirc?) were connected in some sort of meta-multiverse, presumably to give themselves options in the future, but at present they’re completely unrelated both in terms of being in different ‘worlds’ and AIUI not having much overlap on the production side, unlike the Berlanti/Arrowverse shows.Superman & Lois seems to be in some weird narrative space where it’s officially, secretly, definitely in the Arrowverse, to the extent of Diggle wandering over into an episode, with the prospect of maybe future crossovers, but at the same time trying hard to hide this fact so as not to scare non-Arrow viewers away?
Our show (Naomi) and starting, film across the street from each other here in Atlanta…
“whatever you want to call the time traveling, joyful nonsense of Legends Of Tomorrow”Don’t we call it “why the fuck not?” storytelling?
“I got messaged! I’m going to scarper out of class now, and everyone will be totally cool with that!”“Wait a sec – aren’t you going to finish the unspecified thing you were standing at the podium to do?”“But it has a Superman emoji! Two Superman emojis! And I have a skateboard that I must use indoors without consequence!”“Oh, OK then. The rest of us will wait at our desks until you return. Don’t forget to faint for reasons!”Manic Pixie Dream Girl: The Series, coming soon.
Lol wow what a pile of garbage
The original comic really says a lot about the current state of mainstream super hero comics.The first fully original superhero’s name is… Naomi. She doesn’t even have a code name. Just Naomi.Maybe one day we will have a superhero named Jeff.
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