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.
