Stt D. Pierce: ‘Tom Swift’ is super gay. Mike Lee will hate . (Great!)

Contents:

• 'TOM SWIFT' SERI REIMAG THE CLASSIC BOOK CHARACTER AS A BLACK GAY BILLNAIRE
• HOW TOM SWIFT STAR TIAN RICHARDS ALS WH THE PRSURE OF BEG WORK TV'S FIRST GAY BLACK LEAD
• STT D. PIERCE: ‘TOM SWIFT’ IS SUPER GAY. MIKE LEE WILL HATE . (GREAT!)
• A BLACK, GAY BILLNAIRE INVENTOR IS HEAD TO TV THE CW’S NEW TOM SWIFT SERI
• FIRST LOOK AT NANCY DREW SP-OFF STAR TOM SWIFT REVEALS TULAR GAY BILLNAIRE'S CHIC STYLE

'TOM SWIFT' SERI REIMAG THE CLASSIC BOOK CHARACTER AS A BLACK GAY BILLNAIRE

The trepid, gen ventor Tom Swift — whose eponymo book seri buted more than a century ago — has been reimaged as a Black gay billnaire a new sci-fi mystery drama that expands the “Nancy Drew” universe on The by “Nancy Drew” shownners Noga Land and Melda Hsu Taylor and “Empire” wrer Cameron Johnson, “Tom Swift, ” which premier Tuday, follows the vilishly charmg ventor (played by Tian Richards) who is scribed as a young man “wh unlimed rourc and unimagable wealth” who many men would kill to be — or be wh.

HOW TOM SWIFT STAR TIAN RICHARDS ALS WH THE PRSURE OF BEG WORK TV'S FIRST GAY BLACK LEAD

“I thk the spiratn for me om the fact that I’ve jt never seen a Black gay billnaire onscreen before, and I really wanted to see one. Assistant, Barclay (voiced by LeVar Burton), whose sights and tough love have been a nstant throughout his an executive producer who is both Black and openly gay, Johnson said he wanted to create a show that not only felt thentic to his own experienc but also felt universal.

STT D. PIERCE: ‘TOM SWIFT’ IS SUPER GAY. MIKE LEE WILL HATE . (GREAT!)

“And the same way, [wh] ‘Tom Swift, ’ you may not be gay nor Black nor a billnaire … but you might regnize the fay dynamics and the prsure that we experience om our parents and the bonds that we build wh people who we tst — jt agast the backdrop of a really thentilly Black world. ”The rponsibily of playg one of work televisn’s first Black gay lead characters isn’t lost on Richards, whose actg creds clu the films “Burn, ” “Dumpl’” and “A Bad Moms Christmas.

A BLACK, GAY BILLNAIRE INVENTOR IS HEAD TO TV THE CW’S NEW TOM SWIFT SERI

“For Tom to be somebody who’s out, gay, Black, rich and has a darker sk tone — all the thgs that we never get to see look like this — that is so important for people to see, ” pecially STEM, he said. “And the versn of that is, everybody knows you’re gay, you’ve said you’re gay, but they jt ignore you and ntue to try to ph you a different directn. “What I particularly love about The CW is that, the wrg of , they never asked to dial back or make ls gay, ” Johnson said.

FIRST LOOK AT NANCY DREW SP-OFF STAR TOM SWIFT REVEALS TULAR GAY BILLNAIRE'S CHIC STYLE

“That is gog to be really excg and betiful and h, bee I don’t know that we get to see a love story like this wh a Black gay man at the center of as the object of sire that much, pecially one set a world of sci-fi. The actor had, after all, already buted his character an episo of Nancy Drew a year prr, and the publicy surroundg his new sp-off seri always celebrated the fact that he was the first gay Black lead on work TV. Now, as the tular gay Black geni billnaire playboy ma character, Tom is a vilishly charmg, sexy, brilliant ventor wh unlimed rourc and unimagable wealth.

Growg up Black and gay, he didn't see characters like himself the lead role or the center of any stori, let alone one that shows someone like him as a billnaire or brilliant ventor or playboy, and he n't help but wonr how his life might have been different if he had. " That's how Richards end up alg wh all the add prsure of playg work TV's first gay Black lead — by focg on all of Tom's layers and makg him a three-dimensnal human rather than a symbol for an entire muny.