The CW is about to become a little more dominated by DC superheroes as Warner Bros. TV has announced that Ava Duvernay is developing a new series based on the 2019 comic Naomi. The upcoming series will be headed by Duvernay and Jill Blankenship, who previously worked on Arrow. The move signals that WB is continuing to diversify the creatives behind its superhero TV shows, as this would be the first DC Comics show on The CW not produced by Arrowverse orchestrator Greg Berlanti.
Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker wrote the original comic in 2019, which was illustrated by Jamal Campbell. The comic followed a young woman on her journey in becoming a hero. Blankenship and Duvernay will take on writing duties for the series, which will follow the titular, teenage Naomi as a supernatural event prompts her to uncover the event’s origins, and the answers will “challenge everything” we understand about superheroes.
There is no confirmation that the show will be part of the Arrowverse, which is contracting at the moment with Arrow having ended and Supergirl and Black Lightning wrapping up next season. However, the report mentions that Naomi will be heading to “the heights of the multiverse,” which means that most likely the show will somehow be connected even if it’s just during the Arrowverse multi-show crossover events. Technically, Black Lightning and Stargirl aren’t part of the Arrowverse either, but the characters have both jumped dimensions to guest spot. Given DC’s full embrace of the multiverse, they can pretty much connect things however and whenever they want.
Duvernay has a lucrative deal in place with WB TV, and it looks like taking a stab at the superhero genre is going to be a large part of it. She’s also lined up to produce a limited series for HBO Max based on comic DMZ. The streamer has multiple superhero TV shows in the works from a variety of producers, including for Green Lantern and Justice League Dark.
