Naomi: The question is... what am I?
Naomi was a series airing on The CW, co-produced by Ava DuVernay, and based on the DC Comics series of the same name by Brian Michael Bendis, David Walker, and Jamal Campbell. Newcomer Kaci Walfall plays the titular role.
In the sleepy town of Port Oswego, Oregon, Naomi McDuffie runs the world's third-largest Superman fan site. One day, while chasing down reports of a Superman sighting in her town, Naomi passes out, and when she comes to, learns that while many people saw Superman fighting a bad guy, nobody seems to have gotten clear footage of it. This sets off a search for the truth, which in turn leads her to questions about her own past.
Although a DC series airing on The CW, the series was not part of the Arrowverse media franchise. DuVernay has stated that the series was not created as a part of any shared universe, although she would have reconsidered the issue down the line.
On May 12, 2022 (merely two days after the Season Finale aired), it was confirmed that the show wouldn't be renewed for a second season
. This renders the series the shortest of all of DC Comics-based series made for the channel at only 13 episodes.
Naomi contains examples of:
- Alternate Continuity: While a DC Comics-based show airing on The CW, this series is not officially part of the Arrowverse, and didn't last long enough to establish a connection to the Arrowverse's greater multiverse if it was going to.
- Canon Foreigner: All of Naomi's friends, except for Annabelle, were invented for the show.
- Dude Magnet: Naomi has dated several boys, including Nathan whom she recently dumped, and has been flirting with Lourdes, who has a crush on her, as does Anthony. Her parents are having trouble keeping up with her love life.
- Happily Adopted: Naomi loves her adoptive parents, who very clearly love her in return.
- High School Rocks: At least before the whole alien thing came along, school life for Naomi and her friends was pretty good (and still mostly is). She's popular, academically successful, and romantically desired by several different people, and there don't seem to be real cliques, rivalries (at least, not ones that lead to anything really harmful), or bullies at the school.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: In episode 2, Naomi confesses to Annabelle that she doesn't want to accept the fact she is an alien because she already had issues feeling like an outsider due to being a black girl. She even uses this exact phrase.
- Mythology Gag: The first look poster, which depicts Naomi creating a homemade link-analysis board towards the viewer, is an adaptation of her Issue One cover.
- No Full Name Given: The last names of Dee, Zumbado, Nathan, Annabelle, Jacob, Anthony, and Lourdes all go unmentioned. In Dee and Zumbado's cases they would likely be fake anyway, but they would still need last names on paper to operate in society.
- Real After All: Everyone in Port Oswego thinks Superman is just a fictional comic book character. When he actually shows up in town, they think it was some sort of publicity stunt. Dee, however, informs Naomi that Superman's a real person and they've even fought together in the past.
- Shout-Out: Naomi derives her last name from the late Dwayne McDuffie, creator of Static Shock and co-founder of Milestone Comics.
- Twofer Token Minority: The cast is largely white, with a few exceptions.
- Naomi (who is also an alien) says she grew up being the only black girl in her school and town several times before moving to Port Oswego, which made her feel like a permanent outsider. She's also bisexual.
- Her adoptive mother Jennifer is played by an Indian-American actress.
- Lourdes is a queer Latina girl at Naomi's school with a crush on her.
- Winged Humanoid: Local tattoo artist Dee has a large part of metal wings, although he's able to hide them most of the time.
