The CW’s Arrowverse is set to get a little young blood injected into its increasingly aging veins, with Variety reporting that Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship are teaming up to potentially bring a series based on DC Comics character Naomi to the multiverse. Blankenship is best known for her tenure on Arrow itself, where she eventually rose to the rank of executive producer, while DuVernay—in addition to her long list of credits as a director—has carved out a comfortable niche for herself in TV in recent years with shows like Queen Sugar. (She’s also a noted comic book nerd, having signed on for the presumably still-in-the-works-somewhere New Gods movie with Warner Bros.)
If you’re unfamiliar with Naomi, meanwhile, it’s because she’s that rarest of things in comic books: A completely fresh and new character, with no weird legacy baggage linking her to an existing hero. Originally created by Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker (with art from Jamal Campbell), the character launched last year as part of DC’s Wonder Comics imprint. Originally hailing from an alternate universe, Naomi (whose adopted last name, McDuffie, pays tribute to late comics legend Dwayne McDuffie) is gifted with energy powers that allow her to blast stuff and transform into a stronger, more armored version of herself.
With Arrow over, Black Lightning ending, and Batwoman in a state of transition with new lead Javicia Leslie stepping into the cowl, the Arrowverse is currently in a bit of flux. It’ll be interesting to see if DuVernay, Blankenship, and Naomi can inject some much-needed light and energy into one of genre TV’s most established brands.