The Crimson White‘s online service, CW Seed is introducing a new animated series next year, Freedom Fighters: The Ray.
The Ray will be about Raymond “Ray” Terrill, a reporter who gets hit by a genetic light bomb, causing him to develop powers based on light. The accident happens during an investigation of a secret government project.
Although there already exist LGBT characters in the Arrowverse, like Arrow’s Sara Lance and The Flash’s CCPD Captain Singh, this will be the first superhero character to lead in any of the series. Freedom Fighters: The Ray will be the second animated series of CW Seed, the first one being Vixen, and it will be part of the CW DC universe.
The CW Television Network is looking to cast someone who can be the voice actor for the animated series and would be able to play the character in live action eventually. Vixen’s voice actress, Megalyn Echikunwoke, appeared on Arrow’s fourth season this year. Ray’s character will likely reflect the same pattern Ms. Megalyn followed.
“WE WANT THAT. WE WANT THAT PERFORMER, HIS VOICE, TO BE A PART OF THE LIVE ACTION”, said Mark Pedowitz, CW president, at the Television Critics Award presentation.
Who is The Ray?
The Ray was first introduced back in 1940 under the name of Langford “Happy” Terrill, who after being exposed to a light bomb, his genetics were altered giving him the ability to store sunlight and turn it into energy.
The second Ray was Happy’s son, named Raymond ‘Ray’ Terrill, who took on the mantle after his father died.
The CW take on the superhero will be after Grant Morrison’s Multiversity series from 2014-2015 in which The Ray is an openly gay man named Raymond Terrill.
What can be expected from this new addition to the CW DC universe?
The Ray will be the sixth show to be part of the called Arrowverse, the DC universe of TV that started with Arrow back in 2012 and was joined later by The Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow, animated series’ Vixen and lately Supergirl which moved from CBS.
Just like the Vixen character, the fans can expect to see The Ray crossover with any of the live action series at some point, and even more with the crossovers being so normal for the DC series.
The first crossover occurred back in 2014 between Arrow and The Flash and last year they did the same thing but adding more characters to it and making it the introduction for the Legends Of Tomorrow series.
.@TheCW Seed sets gay superhero DC series from Greg Berlanti & Marc Guggenheim https://t.co/EP6qcZWanA pic.twitter.com/gSXQDomc08
— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) August 11, 2016
Besides the big crossover events, there have been episodes where characters from one of the series popped up in another, making it more natural each time it happens. The next CW DC series seasons are set to premiere the first week of October.
Source: IGN
