Naomi Is The Black Teen Superhero You’ve Always Wanted! New CW Show Premieres Jan 11!

By Delaina Dixon | January 10, 2022 | Entertainment

The CW is serving up its newest superhero, Naomi! Based on the comics by Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker, along with artist Jamal Campbell, Naomi is a young black teen who learns she has godlike powers after a supernatural event shakes her hometown of Port Oswego. Now she has to figure out how to use them. Which is one of the reasons executive producer Ava DuVernay was drawn to the project.

DuVernay On Why She Wanted The Project

“When I heard the origin story, I really said, ‘well, this must be mine’ because it was different than most fully-formed superheroes where we just dive into, to the comic and she’s who she is, and she knows everything that’s going on,” she shared at the series’ CW press panel. “This was really the step to becoming yourself, the steps to realizing your destiny, the steps that it takes to, to become who you’re meant to be. And that’s something that was very interesting to me.”

Star Kaci Walfall On The Mind Of A Teen Superhero

While that may be DuVernay’s inspiration, actually having those powers can be a challenge, according to Kaci Walfall, who plays Naomi. “Maybe you finding you’re a superhero is not something that you’re completely enthusiastic for,” said the TV star newcomer. “Maybe it makes you different, and you already feel different.”

**How Noami Will Deal With Race & Gender**

DuVernay’s cast is wonderfully diverse, with #WBWD Barry Watson and Mouzam Makkar playing her adoptive parents. And when it comes to showcasing race issues, DuVernay is introducing a radical idea.

“They’re going to be dealt with through a new innovation that we’re working with. It’s called normalization … it’s not about representation, it’s about normalization,” she declared. “The more that you can portray images without underlining them, highlighting them and putting a star next to them, that shows a different kind of hero, right? That center on a black girl, that centers different kinds of folks, we start to make that normal and that’s a radical revolutionary thing. So yes, that is, it’s in there deep in the fabric of the quilt.”