The first episode of the new series also introduces Tom’s mother, Lorraine (April Parker Jones), who urges him to take his place in elite Black society following his father’s disappearance Tom’s lifelong best friend, Zenzi (Ashleigh Murray), who both grounds and challenges the prodigal innovator and Tom’s A.I. The reimagined “Tom Swift” takes place a couple of years after Tom first appeared on a “Nancy Drew” episode last May, and came out publicly to his father after posting a picture of him kissing another man. “I think the inspiration for it came from the fact that I’ve just never seen a Black gay billionaire onscreen before, and I really wanted to see one.” “When you Google the covers of old ‘Tom Swift’ books, whoever pops up on screen, just imagine the exact opposite of that man - and that’s our Tom Swift,” Landau told NBC News. From the outset, Landau was adamant about creating a subversive take on the original “Tom Swift” novels, which chronicled the adventures of a white, blonde, blue-eyed inventor and had a history of depicting Black communities in a bad light.
