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.
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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.