Ava DuVernay is Developing a TV Adaptation of DC Comics' 'Naomi'
The director is tripling down with DC Comics titles.
Ava DuVernay is attached to yet another DC Comics adaptation.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the acclaimed director is developing a treatment of Naomi for The CW. Introduced just last year, Naomi follows a teenage girl in the Pacific Northwest, as she investigates a supernatural event in her hometown and how her own origins are tied to it. The series is being written and executive produced by the 13th director and longtime CW superhero specialist Jill Blankenship, whose now-shuddered Arrow series launched a number of DC-based shows on the network and built out its own multiverse with The Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning, and Legends of Tomorrow.
Naomi is set to be incorporated in DC's ongoing television multiverse, which is closing up shop on Black Lightning and Supergirl next year, but also introducing a Black Lightning spin-off in Painkiller. DuVernay's Array Filmworks will be producing the series and expanding a relationship with the comic book powerhouse. The director has already signed on to produce a four-part limited-run series based on DC's DMZfor HBO Max, starring Rosario Dawson and Benjamin Bratt. DuVernay is also directing an upcoming film adaptation of DC's New Gods. Announced back in 2018, a release date has yet to be unveiled for that project.
All of this arrives on the heels of a blockbuster announcement from Warner Bros., who will release their full slate of 2021 titles on HBO Max on the same days as their respective theatrical premieres. The deal includes Wonder Woman: 1984, Suicide Squad, The Matrix 4, LeBron James' Space Jam sequel, and a reboot of Dune. Critics have blasted the deal for putting a nail in the coffin of the theater industry. Others remain optimistic theaters may finally drop ticket prices to lure attendees back in.