Tom should definitely do that.’ I would hate to have people watch this show and feel like we were only giving them a portion of what it’s like to be a queer person, and we’re not doing that.” “What I particularly love about The CW is that, in the writing of it, they never asked us to dial it back or make it less gay,” Johnson said. Tom’s confidence in his sexuality is further illustrated in an unapologetic sex scene in the pilot, which was just one of the many ways that the creators wanted to reintroduce the character to audiences. So after Tom was able to throw off the shackles of that, he’s been able to come into his own quite a bit.” “And the version of that is, everybody knows you’re gay, you’ve said you’re gay, but they just ignore you and continue to try to push you in a different direction. Instead, “we wanted to tell something that felt pretty Black,” he said. Johnson said it was important for the creative team to not tell a typical coming-out story.
“For Tom to be somebody who’s out, gay, Black, rich and has a darker skin tone - all the things that we never get to see look like this - that is so important for people to see,” especially in STEM, he said. The responsibility of playing one of network television’s first Black gay lead characters isn’t lost on Richards, whose acting credits include the films “Burden,” “Dumplin’” and “A Bad Moms Christmas.” “I never envisioned someone like me inhabiting that space, but to now see me be that reflection is the greatest thing that I could have ever imagined,” he said. “You can’t help but love him when you’re around him in person, but I think it comes through on screen.” Richards, who is also openly queer, brought “a kind of sunniness,” to the character, Hsu Taylor said. But for some reason, when Tian says them, they sound like the best compliment you’ve ever received.”
“Tom’s on a journey of maturation, and he can be kind of mean and he can say things that are super harsh. They settled on Richards, who displayed the perfect combination of “wit, heart, humor and charm” in his audition, Johnson said.
To bring that vision to life, the creators knew they needed a charismatic actor for the lead role. “And in the same way, ‘Tom Swift,’ you may not be gay nor Black nor a billionaire … but you might recognize the family dynamics and the pressure that we experience from our parents and the bonds that we build with people who we trust - just against the backdrop of a really authentically Black world.” “The way I like to think of it is, I love ‘Clueless.’ I am not Jewish nor blonde nor did I grow up in Los Angeles, but I understood that world after watching that movie, and I felt like I was a part of it,” Johnson said. assistant, Barclay (voiced by LeVar Burton), whose insights and tough love have been a constant throughout his life.Īs an executive producer who is both Black and openly gay, Johnson said he wanted to create a show that not only felt authentic to his own experiences but also felt universal.
The first episode of the new series also introduces Tom’s mother, Lorraine (April Parker Jones), who urges him to take his place in elite Black society following his father’s disappearance Tom’s lifelong best friend, Zenzi (Ashleigh Murray), who both grounds and challenges the prodigal innovator and Tom’s A.I. The reimagined “Tom Swift” takes place a couple of years after Tom first appeared on a “Nancy Drew” episode last May, and came out publicly to his father after posting a picture of him kissing another man. “I think the inspiration for it came from the fact that I’ve just never seen a Black gay billionaire onscreen before, and I really wanted to see one.” “When you Google the covers of old ‘Tom Swift’ books, whoever pops up on screen, just imagine the exact opposite of that man - and that’s our Tom Swift,” Landau told NBC News.
From the outset, Landau was adamant about creating a subversive take on the original “Tom Swift” novels, which chronicled the adventures of a white, blonde, blue-eyed inventor and had a history of depicting Black communities in a bad light.