'Naomi' TV Series, Based On The Character From DC Comics, Coming To The CW From Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay is set to direct the DC movie New Gods, and now she's developing another DC property – Naomi, the story of a teenage superhero from an alternate Earth that uses energy-based power. DuVernay is developing a Naomi TV series for the CW with Arrow writer and co-executive producer Jill Blankenship. The comic hails from writers Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker and illustrator Jamal Campbell.THR and others are reporting that Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship are developing a Naomi TV series for the CW. The show will follow "a teen girl's journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the multiverse. When a supernatural event rattles her hometown, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins. What she discovers will challenge everything people believe about superheroes."
The Naomi comic launched in 2019, and followed Naomi McDuffie, a "teenage superhero from an alternate Earth that uses energy-based powers mononymously as Naomi. She discovered that she was sent to this Earth to be preserved from Zumbado, the destructive conqueror of her birth's Earth." The alternate Earth was more or less like ours, but "after years of human environmental abuse, the Earth's ozone layer collapsed. In the wake of the ozone layer's destruction, undiscovered radiation leaked onto the Earth's surface which had previously been kept at bay." It's not clear if the TV series will keep the "alternate Earth" stuff. The character's superpowers in the comic include transformation, energy projection, flight, superhuman strength, and superhuman durability. Here's a synopsis for the first collection:
A local teenager named Naomi starts looking into what happened the last time a super-being visited her hometown–and how that visit might tie into her own origins as an adopted child. But Naomi's seemingly harmless curiosity exposes more than just her family's startling secrets–it attracts the attention of forces that could threaten the Earth itself!
Learning the truth about her heritage will turn Naomi's life upside down. Can she learn to control her uncanny new abilities and come to terms with her strange new place in the world before it's too late?
The CW already has a ton of DC-based shows, but if Naomi gets picked up, it would be the first that isn't produced by mainstay Greg Berlanti. Many of the Berlanti shows are ending or have already come to an end soon – shows like Arrow, Supergirl, and Black Lightning – so the CW is looking to fill that void with new material.
This would be DuVernay's third project based around DC comics. She's set to direct New Gods and she produced and directed the pilot for the upcoming HBO series DMZ, which is based on a comic series from DC-owned Vertigo. DuVernay will write and executive produce Naomi with Blankenship.