The CW has ordered a pilot for Naomi from producer Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship. The series is based on the character created by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker, and artist Jamal Campbell in 2019. Naomi is one of many new series joining The CW as it continues to grow its brand as a premium destination for young adult television series and one of the top producers of DC Comics adaptations.
After renewing many of their series and giving additional episode orders to the new series Walker and Superman & Lois, The CW is looking to grow their stable of series based on DC Comics. A Black Lightning spinoff based on Painkiller is currently in development, and a TV series based around Wonder Girl. With the recent addition of Stargirl to The CW lineup, the network’s superhero fare is growing in numbers and diversity in genre and roster of characters, with Naomi possibly being a game-changer.
According to TVLine, The CW has ordered a pilot for Naomi. The series will follow Naomi’s journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the multiverse after a supernatural event shakes her hometown to the core. Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything she and the audience believes about superheroes.
There is no word on if the series will tie into the Arrowverse programs, despite the multiverse being a significant storyline across series such as The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow. The series is not under the banner of Berlanti Productions like many of the other series. The status of being an adaptation of a DC comic doesn’t always indicate it will crossover with the other series. iZombie, which ran for five seasons on The CW, was based on the Vertigo series of the same name yet never was featured in any crossovers. Black Lightning started in its own universe for its first two seasons before being folded into the Arrowverse at the midpoint of season 3 during the Crisis On Infinite Earth storyline.
Naomi’s plot teases a massive multiverse event setting the series in motion could indicate a connection to the Arrowverse. Crisis On Infinite Earths multiverse destruction and restructure could kick the show into gear, and see the story’s perspective told from somebody with no connections to the heroes.
The presence of Jill Blankenship as a producer could indicate some crossover potential. Blankenship was a writer and producer on Arrow and was the lead producer on the canceled Green Arrow and the Canaries spin-off series. Naomi might find her way into the future Star City in her quest across the multiverse, and fans could get a little hint of what the series might have been. Ava DuVernay’s presence on the series, DC Entertainment’s commitments to a multiverse could even mean that Naomi might set up teases and easter eggs for DuVernay’s upcoming New Gods film at Warner Bros.
