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Entertainment Now | May 28 - June 3, 2022 By Christina McIvor TV Media T here are certain characters who burst onto the televi- sion screen and command attention from their very first scene, and it immediately becomes apparent that they de- serve a series of their own. For fans of CW's "Nancy Drew," this is the case with Tom Swift (Tian Richards, "The Quad"), who leads his own self-titled series as of Tuesday, May 31, on the same network. Audiences familiar with "Nan- cy Drew" will remember billion- aire inventor Tom from his ap- pearance in the Season 2 episode "The Celestial Visitor," in which he enlists Nancy's (Kennedy Mc- Mann, "Law & Order: Special Vic- tims Unit") help to find the mete- orite that crashed into their town 90 years earlier. The purely sci- ence-driven Tom quickly finds his beliefs tested as he encounters more than he bargained for in the form of the supernatural, but finds a friend in Nancy as well as the courage to come out to his father, Barton (played in "Tom Swift" by Christopher B. Duncan, "Black Lightning"). Now it's Tom's turn to take the spotlight. The character, who first ap- peared in the 1910 novel "Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle," was first portrayed as a brilliant teen- age inventor fascinated by the rapidly evolving science and technology of the times. Created by Edward Stratemeyer, whose publishing house also produced the Nancy Drew book series, the Tom Swift novels were written by many ghostwriters who pub- lished under the pseudonym Vic- tor Appleton. To date, there are over 100 books featuring Tom and his son, Tom Swift Jr., the most recent of which was pub- lished in March 2022. The upcoming series reimag- ines Tom as a gay Black man, a far cry from his first appearance as a straight white man over a century ago. "The original Tom Swift was great for his time and what he represented," Richards told TV- Line last year. "At the time, that was the face of young boys, all- American kids full of possibilities. But in 2021, that can look so dif- ferent. It can look like someone like me — a Black guy who is chocolate, who is queer, who is all those things that we're told aren't the normal or the status quo." This incarnation of Tom is an MIT-educated billionaire and fu- ture heir to his father's empire, poised to one day take over Swift Enterprises. However, the brilliant inventor is thrown into a world of shadowy conspiracy after Barton vanishes. Tom becomes deter- mined to find his father and un- cover the web of mysteries sur- rounding his disappearance, many of which require him to leave his extravagant lifestyle be- hind and plunge deep into the unexplained. Pursuing Tom throughout the series and throwing a wrench in his plans is a mysterious organi- zation that will stop at nothing to keep him from discovering the truth. Needless to say, Tom will need all his considerable wits and genius to save the day and fight to keep the people he cares for safe. Richards' first professional act- ing role came in 2012, when he portrayed Elijah Patterson in an episode of the web series "The Lyons Den," but it wasn't until 2016 that he began to appear more regularly on the scene, with minor parts in an episode of the drama "Greenleaf" and "24: Leg- acy." While he has most often ap- peared on the small screen, he briefly appeared in "A Bad Moms Christmas" (2017), which starred Mila Kunis ("That '70s Show") and Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars"). That same year, he played young Lawrence in the made-for-TV movie "The Immor- tal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (2017), which counts Oprah Win- frey ("The Oprah Winfrey Show") among its cast. Richards can also count Jenni- fer Aniston of "Friends" fame among his eminent co-stars, as they both appeared in the Golden Globe-nominated film "Dump- lin'" (2018). He also starred as Drew in the 2019 short film "In- terlude," a 13-minute flick that won Best Short Film at the 2020 Rhode Island International Film Festival. Later that year he also made an appearance as Daryl in an episode of the popular CBS sitcom "The Neighborhood." In "Tom Swift," Richards is joined by a stellar supporting cast, including Ashleigh Murray ("Riverdale") as Zenzi Fullerton, Tom's best friend; Marquise Vil- son ("Blindspot") as bodyguard Isaac Vega; April Parker Jones ("Jericho") as his mother, Lor- raine Swift; and LeVar Burton ("Star Trek: The Next Genera- tion") as Barclay, his trusted AI. Melinda Hsu Taylor ("Lost"), Noga Landau ("See") and Cam- eron Johnson ("Empire") serve as executive producers and writ- ers alongside "Nancy Drew" co- creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. Directors in- clude Ruben Garcia ("Nancy Drew"), Michael A. Allowitz ("Dynasty") and Clara Aranovich ("Stranger Things: Spotlight"). Regardless of where Tom's quest leads him — to the para- normal or the mundane — it's clear that this fresh take on the character is in great hands with Richards, who put it best while talking to TVLine. "Tom gets to exist in all of his beauty and pride," Richards said. "He gets to grow up in a family with a legacy, to have endless possibilities in education and tech and inventing. He gets to re- alize himself for himself, and that's beautiful for anyone to see." Catch the series premiere of "Tom Swift" when it airs Tuesday, May 31, on CW. Tian Richards as Tom Swift in "Nancy Drew" A 'Swift' spinoff: 'Nancy Drew' crew stars in new CW series 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" Moore's Home Health 5 x 2"

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