The CW has given the green light to two scripted series to join its 2021-22 slate: a spinoff of its drama All American and Naomi, based on a DC Comics title.
A remake of The 4400 and competition series Legends of the Hidden Temple, which previously received series orders, will also join the broadcaster’s lineup next season. In something of a surprise, The CW’s live-action Powerpuff Girls project didn’t receive a series order but will be reworked for a new pilot to be shot off cycle. The show’s cast and creators remain attached to the project.
Nancy Drew spinoff Tom Swift it also still in contention. The network has passed on Black Lightning spinoff Painkiller and Our Ladies of Brooklyn, a dramedy about two millennial nuns; they’ll be shopped by their respective studios, Warner Bros. TV and CBS Studios.
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All American: Homecoming will take the sports drama of its parent show and set it against the experience of students at an HBCU. The show centers on tennis hopeful from Beverly Hills (All American‘s Geffri Maya) and a baseball star from Chicago who experience the highs, lows and sexiness of unsupervised early adulthood at a Historically Black College.
All American showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll wrote the spinoff and executive produces with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, David Madden and Robbie Rogers. Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. TV produce. Michael Schultz directed the planted spinoff episode.
Naomi, based on the 2019 DC title from Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker, comes from Warner Bros. TV, Ava DuVernay and her Array Filmworks and Arrow veteran Jill Blankenship. It follows a teenage girl (Kaci Walfall) as she sets out to uncover the origins of a supernatural event in her hometown, eventually challenging everything she knows about heroes.
DuVernay, who has a rich overall deal with WBTV, and Blankenship write and executive produce the series; Array’s Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes also exec produce. Amanda Marsalis directed and co-exec produced the pilot.
The long-in-the-works 4400 remake (which drops “The” from the 2004-07 USA series’ title) earned a straight-to-series order in February. The CBS Studios drama comes from Riverdale veteran Ariana Jackson, who executive produces with Anna Fricke, Laura Terry and Sunil Nayar.
Powerpuff was widely expected to earn a series order as well, but instead The CW will shoot a new pilot for the show. Leads Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron and Yana Perrault — who play grown-up versions of the Cartoon Network superheroes — and Donald Faison, as Professor Drake Utonium, will remain with the Warner Bros. TV project along with writers/exec producers Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody.
HBO Max could be a possible destination for Painkiller, while Our Ladies of Brooklyn will be shopped to ViacomCBS streamer Paramount+, among other outlets.
The CW is set to announce its 2021-22 schedule on Tuesday. Keep track of all the renewals, cancellations and new series orders with THR‘s broadcast scorecard, and click here for the latest on all the broadcast pilots.
