Season 1 of the CW show, Naomi will not have any Arrowverse crossovers. The network is already home to numerous DC superhero titles including Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Superman & Lois, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning and Batwoman. Both Arrow and Supergirl have already aired their final seasons, but both are still referenced within the Arrowverse. Naomi will follow Superman & Lois in The CW’s Tuesday lineup starting January 11, 2022.
Developed by Ava DuVernay (Selma, A Wrinkle In Time), Naomi is an adaptation of the DC Comic of the same name, created by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker, and Jamal Campbell. The show follows comic-book loving, Black teenager, Naomi McDuffie (Kaci Walfall), who experiences a mysterious crash in her hometown, which leads her to pursue her own hidden destiny. Barry Watson, Mary-Charles Jones, Mouzam Makkar, Cranston Johnson and Alexander Wraith round out the remainder of the cast. Of course, viewers will see a familiar face or blur at some point as it has been teased Naomi will come across a supernatural crash, which could feature a well-known hero.
Even though audiences can expect to see Superman, thanks to the latest Naomi trailer, Collider reports that series creator, DuVernay, set the record straight that the show is prioritizing their universe first, rather than creating any Arrrowverse crossovers. DuVernay explained, “I think this is the first part of the Naomi-verse.” However, this isn’t to say it will never happen, as executive producer Jill Blankenship said that a crossover could happen in the future as the series grows and moves ahead.
Even though the CW has a large slate of superhero programming, DuVernay is promising that Naomi won’t follow the same formula as other CW DC shows. Race and gender will be prevalent themes that the series explores, which she categorizes as “normalization.” What the filmmaker alludes to in her classification relates to the actual storytelling. The objective will be to tackle these themes in a very natural, seamless way within the series rather than calling them out directly, which may detract from other plot points.
With the ingenuity and talent of DuVernay behind this task, it feels like a safe bet that the show will masterfully pull off complex themes alongside a superhero origin story. Even though there is an abundance of superheroes on television, that’s not even counting Marvel’s presence, the buzz around Naomi feels different and energetic. It makes the decision to step away, at least for now, from the Arrowverse that much smarter, because interested parties are looking at what Naomi specifically has to offer, not how it will connect to the greater DC universe. Often comic book-based series need a familiar tie-in to hook viewers, but the initial excitement around Naomi rested in the actual storyline of Naomi McDuffie and, of course, the genius of DuVernay’s storytelling and development process.
