New CW Series to Star Black, Gay 'Tom Swift'
The CW has announced a new series that will feature an openly gay, Black main character.
"Tom Swift," starring Tian Richards, will be spun off of the CW's "Nancy Drew" mystery series, and will follow the adventures of its billionaire title character, The Hollywood Reporter revealed.
The character of Tom Swift was featured last spring on "Nancy Drew." In that episode, his being gay was a prominent part of the character's depiction: Sparks flew between him and "Nancy Drew" regular character Nick (Tunji Kasim), leading to an onscreen kiss.
The original Tom Swift books had a focus on science and technology, so it's only fitting that the new series will have a fantastical bent, pitting its hero against a powerful cabal and dropping him "into a world of sci-fi conspiracy and unexplained phenomena," the Hollywood Reporter detailed.
"Nancy Drew" star Kennedy McMann gave the upcoming series a warm welcome, tweeting: "THE DREWNIVERSE EXPANDS!!!!!!!"
Like Nancy Drew, the new Tom Swift is an update of a classic character drawn from popular children's adventure novels that were first published in 1910, with new books appearing on and off up until 2007, Wikipedia recalls. The various series of "Tom Swift" adventure novels were created by the same company behind both the "Nancy Drew" books and "The Hardy Boys" mystery adventure series.
"Tom's missions will require his genius and flair for innovation guided by love, romance, friendship and the mysteries of the universe yet-unsolved," Deadline reported.