''Tom Swift'' is an American

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series based on the book series of the same name developed by

Melinda Hsu Taylor Melinda Hsu Taylor is an American television writer and producer, co-creator and showrunner of ''Tom Swift'' and showrunner of ''Nancy Drew'' for the CW Network. Hsu Taylor is well known for her work on the ABC series ''Lost''. She was nominated ...

, Noga Landau and Cameron Johnson. Starring Tian Richards, it is a spin-off of ''

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...

''. The series premiered on May 31, 2022 on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, with the series finale airing on August 2, 2022. In June 2022, it was canceled after one season.

Cast and characters

Main

* Tian Richards as Tom Swift, a young, billionaire inventor *

Ashleigh Murray Ashleigh Monique Murray (born January 18, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She portrayed Josie McCoy, the lead singer of the band Josie and the Pussycats, on the CW television series '' Riverdale''. Murray reprised this role in the '' Ri ...

as Zenzi Fullerton, Tom's cousin and best friend * Marquise Vilsón as Isaac Vega, Tom's bodyguard * Albert Mwangi as Rowan, a Congressman's security detail *

April Parker Jones April Parker Jones is an American television actress, best known for her roles as Darcy Hawkins in the CBS post-apocalyptic drama series ''Jericho'' from 2006 to 2008, and as Natalie Henning in the Oprah Winfrey Network prime time soap opera, ''If ...

as Lorraine Swift, Tom's mother

Recurring

* LeVar Burton as voice of Barclay, an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

* Brittany Ishibashi as Claire Cormier *

Ward Horton Ward Kirby Horton (born January 14, 1976) is an American actor and stunt person. He is known for playing John Form in ''Annabelle (film), Annabelle''. In the fall of 2018, he played Ed in a Broadway revival of ''Torch Song Trilogy''. Ward Horton ...

as Nathan Eskol, a family friend of the Swift family who is a Congressman * Donovin Miller as Lino, Tom's adoptive brother *

Christopher B. Duncan Christopher B. Duncan (born December 4, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for his television series regular roles like Braxton P. Hartnabrig on '' The Jamie Foxx Show'', President William Johnson in '' The First Family'', and his portrayal ...

as Barton Swift, Tom's father * Hayward Leach as Justin Chase *

Elizabeth Cappuccino Elizabeth Cappuccino is an American film and television actress. She is best known for starring in ''Super Dark Times'' and for playing a young Jessica Jones in the Netflix series of the same name. Family and early life Cappuccino was born o ...

as Susannah Robb

Episodes

Production

Development

On October 28, 2020, it was announced that The CW was developing a spin-off from their ''

'' series titled ''Tom Swift''. The series is based on the book series of the same name and is created and executive produced by

, Noga Landau, and Cameron Johnson. The show is set in the "Drew-niverse". On February 8, 2021, it was announced that Ruben Garcia will be directing the pilot episode. On August 30, 2021, The CW had given the production a straight-to-series order and it was expected to debut during the 2021–22 television season.

Josh Schwartz Joshua Ian Schwartz (born August 6, 1976) is an American screenwriter and television producer. Schwartz is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox teen drama series ''The O.C.'' which ran for 4 seasons. Schwartz is also known for ...

Stephanie Savage Stephanie Savage (born 1969) is a Canadian screenwriter and television producer. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl (TV series), Gossip Girl'' (2007) from the Gossip Girl (novel series), novel series, and ...

, and Lis Rowinski were also added as executive producers. Lead actor Richards said of the adaptation, "The original Tom Swift was great for his time and what he represented. At the time, that was the face of young boys, All-American kids full of possibilities. But in 2021, that can look so different. 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." He added, "We're going to dive into so many sectors of identity. We're going to talk about Blackness—and a different kind of Blackness than we're used to seeing, which is the Black elite, the 1 percent, the billionaires. We're also going to talk about a queer boy's journey into becoming a queer man. Not only self-acceptance, but acceptance as a whole, having the community and people around you." The series started filming in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in late-January 2022, which was completed between late April-early May. It premiered on The CW on May 31, 2022. On June 30, 2022, the series was canceled after one season due to low viewership, although it was allowed to have the rest of the episodes for the season aired on The CW. The series finale aired on August 2, 2022.

Casting

On January 26, 2021, Tian Richards was cast in the titular role of Tom Swift. On May 11, 2021, LeVar Burton joined the main cast to voice an

named Barclay. Richards and Burton both appear as their respective characters in the May 2021 ''Nancy Drew'' episode "The Celestial Visitor". In February 2022,

, Marquise Vilsón,

, and Albert Mwangi joined the cast in starring roles. On March 8, 2022,

was cast in a recurring role.

Reception

Critical response

Caroline Framke, writing for Variety, said "Outside its flawed hero, though, “Tom Swift” suffers from a surprising lack of imagination given all the ostensibly impressive innovation at the heart of the Swift empire" but said the series should be given a chance to recover from a "shaky launch".

References

External links

* {{Nancy Drew 2020s American black television series 2020s American drama television series 2020s American LGBT-related television series 2020s American mystery television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2022 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings American television spin-offs The CW original programming English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in Atlanta Television shows set in Nebraska Tom Swift