Ashleigh Murray Compares Tom Swift to Riverdale and Katy Keene

By Nicole Drum

The Nancy Drew spinoff series Tom Swift is set to debut on The CW on May 31st and while the series will bring a whole new adventure to the network, it will come with a familiar face. Riverdale and Katy Keene alum Ashleigh Murray stars in Tom Swift as Zenzi Fullerton, the efficient and effervescent childhood best friend and business partner of Tian Richards' Tom Swift. It's a character — and a series — with a very different dynamic than Murray's previous The CW work, something Murray spoke about during a virtual press conference attended by ComicBook.com.

"Honestly, it's so wonderful because, you know, I've always been a very mature person, even in my youth. And it's nice to be able to finally step and walk in that same maturity," Murray said. "You know, it feels good to, feel like a woman and to be received as a woman and to be respected as a woman, that I can show up and I can command a space and I can command attention and I will be listened to, I will be understood, and I will be enmeshed and welcome and received."

Murray also teased that on Tom Swift, she'll be able to curse, albeit "dainty" network television cursing.

"It's also wonderful to be able to… do I curse? I be cursing. I get to curse. I get to be funny," Murray said before adding, "Well, you know, network cursing. So, it's dainty, but it's there."

Tom Swift follows the serialized adventures of its titular character, an exceptionally brilliant inventor with unlimited resources and unimaginable wealth who is thrust into a world of sci-fi conspiracy and unexplained phenomena after the shocking disappearance of his father. Tom takes to the road on a quest to unravel the truth, leaving behind the comforts of his usual moneyed lifestyle while fighting to stay one step ahead of an Illuminati-scale group that's hellbent on stopping him.

In addition to Murray and Richards, Tom Swift will star Marquise Vilsón (The Kitchen, Blindspot) as Tom's bodyguard Isaac, and April Parker Jones (Supergirl, Bel-Air) as Tom's mom Lorraine. LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reading Rainbow) voices Barclay, Tom's AI. Swift was first introduced on The CW in the Season 2 Nancy Drew episode, "The Celestial Visitor".  In terms of the books, the Tom Swift book series first began to be published in 1910 and encompasses more than 100 volumes. The books have been translated into many languages and have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. There have been multiple attempts to adapt Tom Swift into live action, with the only successful adaptation being a 1983 television special, The Tom Swift and Linda Craig Mystery Hour.

The Tom Swift series is written, and executive produced by Nancy Drew showrunner Melina Hsu Taylor and co-creator Noga Landau, who co-created the series with Empire's Cameron Johnson. The project also hails from Nancy Drew producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.

Tom Swift debuts on Tuesday, May 31st at 9/8c on The CW.

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