Michael B. Jordan's grounded superhero series comes to Netflix in the Raising Dion trailer
“Grounded” has become a buzzword for movie studios and networks touting their upcoming superhero projects (you can blame Christopher Nolan’s Bat-success). Really, it’s just shorthand for “gritty” and “not Marvel”; these films and shows are rarely, if ever, actually grounded in anything resembling reality. But Raising Dion, the upcoming Netflix series from executive producer Michael B. Jordan (who also has a supporting role), looks like it might actually achieve the whole “grounded superhero story” thing. The first trailer for the series, which premieres October 4, takes us inside the lives of Nicole, a woman who is raising her son by herself following the death of her husband—an inherently difficult task that’s made all the more trying by the fact that her son, Dion, has super-powers.
Raising Dion looks to have a lot of promise with an original superhero story that focuses on a family of color, and the potential to explore the trials of raising a good man in the modern age through the lens of popular fiction. And although Jordan is playing the dead dad in this scenario, it seems that he’ll still be fairly present throughout the series. Here’s the official synopsis:
Raising Dion follows the story of a woman named Nicole (Alisha Wainwright), who raises her son Dion (newcomer Ja’Siah Young) after the death of her husband, Mark (Michael B. Jordan). The normal dramas of raising a son as a single mom are amplified when Dion starts to manifest several mysterious, superhero-like abilities. Nicole must now keep her son’s gifts secret with the help of Mark’s best friend Pat (Jason Ritter), and protect Dion from antagonists out to exploit him while figuring out the origin of his abilities.