How DC comics hero Naomi made the leap from page to screen in record time

Naomi McDuffie has accomplished a stunning amount during her short time in the DC Universe.

The geeky, confident teen debuted with 2019's Naomi: Season One, a six-issue comic book arc in which she discovered she's not from Earth and has special abilities. From there, Naomi flew to the pages of Young Justice before becoming a member of the Justice League (where she earned the alias Powerhouse) — and a new solo comic, Naomi: Season Two, hits stands March 8.

But the high schooler's meteoric rise isn't confined to the page: In record time, she leaped to the CW with Naomi's premiere in January. Set in a small Northwest town and starring newcomer Kaci Walfall, the drama (Tuesdays at 9 p.m.) centers on the hero's journey of self-discovery.

Here, EW gathered series executive producers Ava DuVernay (When They See Us) and Jill Blankenship (Arrow) with Brian Michael Bendis (Jessica Jones, Spider-Man: Miles Morales) and David F. Walker (Bitter Root) — who co-created the Naomi comic with artist Jamal Campbell — to discuss the character's astounding ascension. (Note: Due to scheduling, we conducted two interviews, one with DuVernay, Blankenship, and Walker, and the other with Bendis.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Most comic-book creators either don't live to see their characters adapted into live action, or are no longer in the public eye once they do. How does it feel to see Naomi on TV?

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS: Literally, that's the first thought that comes into my head. I'm a such a comic book pop culture professor that I'm very aware that up until this generation in the history of comics, if something had the amazing miracle of being adapted beyond its publishing roots, it would've happened years after the creator was there. Like so many of my peers, I study [the late] Jack Kirby a lot and there are so many quotes about how he envisioned, "I want to see the Fourth World on the big screen with the biggest effect." So yes, I do think of how lucky I am that I have gotten to experience this very unique blessing a couple times. Like, I'm still not over [Netflix's adaptation of] Jessica Jones. The filmmakers added to the message, and then it all came back at me as, like, a hug — and that feeling continued for a long time. And then Miles Morales came around [in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse], and that feeling's never stopped. I never imagined that my Instagram would just be filled with cosplay, and cakes, and all kinds of fan films and stuff like that. It's a hug that never ends.

DAVID F. WALKER: It's definitely surreal. When Brian and I first started talking about Naomi, we were just like, "Let's just make the best character and comic possible." I think that our audience is connecting with it in part because the story is just a very classic hero's journey, but it's the person taking that hero's journey that hasn't been seen that much in pop culture. We talked a lot about [Brian's] daughters and I was like, "We need to make something that will inspire your daughters." I remember when I was a kid, not seeing characters that looked like me. We didn't want to create a character that was going to appeal to middle-aged fanboys. There's enough of that. My generation had its time, and now it's time to start really cultivating characters and properties that will inspire younger people.

Ava, you were working on a New Gods movie and Jill had just finished Arrow when the comic first debuted. How did Naomi catch your attention so quickly?

AVA DUVERNAY: I heard about Naomi before I read it and was like, "I need to read this." I think I got something early, before it was public within Warner Bros., which is where [my production company] Array's home is. The thing that caught my attention wasn't just the fact that she was a Black girl who became a superhero. It was the fact that she was a comic-book fan. She was a Superman stan who discovers that she has a connection to him that's beyond anything in her wildest dreams. That's just such a personal thing, because we all like somebody. And then I just loved the way she looked, the way that she had natural hair like me and she was brown-skinned and cool, and kind of rebellious.

JILL BLANKENSHIP: I came onto Arrow for the last couple seasons and had a great experience there. Then I moved on and worked on [Netflix's adaptation of] Sweet Tooth briefly. This is my third DC project, and I feel like none of them are the same. They all explore these different themes and ideas. In terms of Naomi, I came to it through Ava. I remember sitting down on a Friday night and thinking, "Oh, I'm just going to read one of them." And then I read all six. The characters felt so real. And then, to be able to speak with Ava even more about her vision for the show and what she was excited about, and what the project could be, I really was like, "Oh, please let me do this! I really want to do this."

Naomi doesn't have much canon to draw on, so what has the adaptation process been like?

DUVERNAY: For me, [there's] the idea that there wasn't a blank canvas, but she hadn't run her full race by the time we got to her. She's just taken off. One of the reasons why it's been such a joy to adapt is the graciousness and generosity of David and Brian. They, in really our only conversation with them, were the antithesis of toxic masculinity. They were alarmingly generous and wonderful in saying, "We did this and we're going our own way; would love to see what you do. Take it, run with it, be you." We're not checking in with them. We're not asking if this is okay. It was a collaborative handing off from one group of artists to another in the most beautiful, rare way in our industry that I've experienced.

BLANKENSHIP: It really gave us quite enormous freedom in the writers' room to be able to explore what our version of this adaptation would look like, and how we could tell these new and exciting stories that build off the foundation.

DUVERNAY: We really used [Jamal's illustrations], too. They were the blueprint, even down to all of the costume design.

David and Brian, what do you remember about that first conversation?

BENDIS: It was early in the pandemic, so everything seemed insane. All of a sudden, [DC chief creative officer and publisher] Jim Lee goes, "Ava wants to Zoom with you." A lot of people know what that time was like, so it was a genuine burst of sunshine into that day. I also knew how it's exciting to tell other storytellers the truth of where the story came from. I have adoption in my life, what people who have adoption in their life will tell you [is] you're almost surrounded by a lot of people with adopt. You become part of a community, and with all kinds of stories and feelings. I made it pretty clear when the comic came out, [but] the story of Naomi is not the story of my family in any way, shape, or form. My kids know that. But it does truthfully represent all of the stuff we've experienced being part of the adoption community. It's funny, [the meeting] felt like you're taking your final exam and you get to show your work.

WALKER: I can say for a fact that I would not have been as gracious if there were other people bringing this to life. [Laughs] If the show was going to come to life, I wanted people involved who would get what we were trying to [accomplish] but knew how to move through that film and TV world and would make Naomi the sort of character that inspires people when they turn on the TV. When Ava's name came up, it was like, "Well, it's not going to get better than that." There's a project that Ava worked on a few years ago that filled me with so much confidence and that was was When They See Us on Netflix. I was like, "I have no concerns." That show meant so much to me on so many levels.

What was it like watching the pilot for the first time?

WALKER: The first moment I saw an image of Kaci, I was like, "Oh, that's my little girl."

DUVERNAY: Isn't she great?

WALKER: Terrifyingly great. Then, watching the pilot, it had this very odd feeling to it — but in a very positive way. Kaci has that quality of: You can see some of yourself in her. Here I am as a middle-aged man, and I'm looking at her and I'm seeing in her what I saw in myself when I co-created her. It's like you see a star in the making.

BENDIS: She's amazing. She's just like a bright, shiny energy. Everything that was important to me was there right away. It was just like, "Oh, great, relief!" It's hard to describe [because] I don't have any control of it either way. So, I could just put my good energy out and hope it comes back, and it did.

Naomi had her first major superhero battle in episode 4. Where does she go from here?

BLANKENSHIP: Part of the DNA of our show is that it's really a big deal when she has these encounters. It really affects her emotionally — not only as a high school teenager, but as a superhero. So the repercussions of that will stick around throughout the season, and it will continue to put pressure on her as we go.

DUVERNAY: By episode 4, I will just say to folks that have been watching at this point: You know nothing. You actually do not know anything that's going to happen because there are some revelations. And that's why I love the tagline that CW was generous enough to keep on, because — this is a real big thing for me — when I was bringing Jill on board and the studio on board and the network on board, I kept saying, "Don't believe everything you think." Just because it's in your mind doesn't mean it's real. It's the title of the first episode and it is something that continues to be an anchor that we go back to as we write.

Beyond the comic, how much are you drawing from the wider DC Comics universe?

DUVERNAY: We had a brother named Julian Lytle, who I met through Tom King when we were working on New Gods, and we brought him into the room as a consultant. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of DC. So it would be like, "We're in a space [where] a villain might not have been addressed in the comics. We need something here that's not in anything else," because Naomi's world is not connected to any other existing world [on TV] and we can't step on what another creator is doing in the DC family. And he was like, "Bam! Try this." So then we go to DC and we're like, "Yeah... we heard about this character..." And they're like, "We have to dust [that one] off from the top shelf. I don't even know if that exists. We have not heard of that." So, they dust it off [and say], "This character does exist. These are their colors. This is their thing." And so the fact that we had that foundation from David and Brian allowed us to explore, to find new things, research, bring new ideas.

Is that how a deep cut like Adam Blake/Captain Comet wound up in episode 3?

DUVERNAY: Indeed! Are Jill and I coming up with this? We're not. [Laughs]

BLANKENSHIP: And even something like Ava said, even the actor [who played] Adam Blake, his jacket was red as an homage to the colors of his uniform in the comics.

Did the show's existence affect how you approached Naomi: Season Two?

BENDIS: It's a very unique experience to have your stuff adapted while you're actively working on it.

WALKER: I tend to be good at compartmentalizing these sorts of things. I've said to [Brian], "Let's not concern ourselves with what they're doing with the show, because the show will be the show. Let's go with what we feel we need to do with the comic. What are the questions that we want to answer based on what was asked in those first six issues, and then with Young Justice and Justice League?" If we got caught up trying to concern ourselves with what's going to happen in the show then we're not going to be true to ourselves.

DUVERNAY: I feel like Naomi is a muscular enough character to have the imagination of multiple creators applied to her in the same way that many versions of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman exist at the same time. We consider her a strong enough character to be able to be interpreted and brought to life [in multiple projects]. And I hope there are more beyond us. I want her to really stand tall and be an enduring character that captures the imagination of a generation, that they can call her their superhero in the same way that Wonder Woman was mine.

How have Naomi's experiences with Young Justice and Justice League affected her coming into Season Two?

BENDIS: So people understand, the delay was we were waiting for Jamal [to finish Far Sector]. We didn't want to do the book without him, no one wants to see the book without him. Then in the meantime, I get very excited about the living organism of the shared universe. So you're like, "Well, Naomi doesn't have to sit there waiting for us. What if the next day after you get your superpowers, she's like, 'Let's go find some other superheroes.'" What an unusual journey. [I thought], "Oh, maybe this is a gift, so let's throw her into the deep end." So, that's Young Justice, and then that gets her to Justice League, but she's still a rookie with very little experience. It's like she had a hit single, went on tour right away, and it's just madness. And then the summer's over, and she comes home, and her father's going to teach [her] how to play guitar like, "Alright, you had a hit song, but do you now want to be a musician or not?'" That's kind of the feeling that comes with Season 2.

The first time Naomi met all the superheroes, she goes, "Tell me what I don't know," and Black Canary goes, "Every one of your relationships will change. No one will relate to you the same way they related to you the day before you got powers." That was the most truthful thing that was said to her, and she's dealing with that in Season Two. The whole world, from her closest friends to her parents, is reacting completely differently to her than it did before. She has to process and decide what she's going to do with it.

Naomi airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on The CW. Naomi: Season Two #1 hits stands March 8.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

A version of this story appears in the March issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands now. Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

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