''Raising Dion'' is an American

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series that premiered on October 4, 2019, on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. It is based on the 2015 comic book and short film of the same name by Dennis Liu. In January 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a second and final season which premiered on February 1, 2022.

Premise

''Raising Dion'' follows the story of a woman named Nicole who raises her son Dion after the death of her husband Mark. The normal dramas of raising a son as a single mom are amplified when Dion starts to manifest several superhero-like abilities. Nicole must now keep her son's gifts secret with the help of Mark's best friend Pat, and protect Dion from people out to exploit him while figuring out the origin of his abilities.

Cast and characters

Main

* Ja'Siah Young as Dion Warren, Nicole's young, superpowered son *

Alisha Wainwright Alisha Ena Wainwright (born July 14, 1989) is an American actress. Following her film debut in '' Just Before I Go'' (2014), Wainwright had supporting roles in films such as '' Death of a Telemarketer'' (2020) and ''Palmer'' (2021), as well as a ...

as Nicole Warren, a widowed mother who is raising her son alone while trying to manage his supernatural abilities after the death of her husband. * Jazmyn Simon as Kat Neese, Nicole's older sister who is a surgeon. * Sammi Haney as Esperanza Jimenez, Dion's classmate and best friend. She also has

osteogenesis imperfecta Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that bone fracture, break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other Or ...

(brittle bone disease). *

Jason Ritter Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor. The son of actors John Ritter and Nancy Morgan, he is known for his work in television series such as ''Joan of Arcadia'' (2003–2005), ''Gravity Falls'' (2012–2016), '' Anot ...

as Pat Rollins, an engineer at a biotech company called BIONA, Mark's best friend and Dion's godfather. * Griffin Robert Faulkner as Brayden Mills (season 2, recurring season 1) *

Ali Ahn Alison Ahn is an American actress. She has appeared in TV series such as '' Billions'', ''Orange Is the New Black'', '' Raising Dion'', '' The Diplomat, and Agatha All Along.'' Early life and education Ahn grew up in Pasadena, California, grad ...

as Suzanne Wu (season 2, recurring season 1), a scientist and the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of BIONA

Recurring

Michael B. Jordan Michael Bakari Jordan ( ; born February 9, 1987) is an American actor, producer and director. He is best known for his film roles in '' Fruitvale Station'' (2013), ''Creed'' (2015), ''Black Panther'' (2018), '' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'' ...

as Mark Warren, a scientist, Dion's father and Nicole's deceased husband, who secretly was given superpowers by the aurora event in Iceland and is trapped as a spirit after having been absorbed by the Crooked Man * Gavin Munn as Jonathan King, Dion's classmate and bully-turned-friend. * Skyler Elyse Philpot as Steffi, Dion's classmate and popular skater kid * Donald Paul as Mr. Anthony Fry, Dion's science teacher * Matt Lewis as Mr. Campbell, Dion's school principal *

Marc Menchaca Marc Menchaca (born October 10, 1975) is an American actor, writer, and director. He was co-director, co-writer, and lead actor of the 2013 Heartland Film Festival movie ''This Is Where We Live'', and was awarded best actor at the Breckenridg ...

as Walter Mills, a farmer who is a superpowered man from the Iceland event. He is absorbed into the Crooked Man, leaving his son Brayden, who developed telepathy due to his father's own superpowers, alone. * Moriah Brown as Willa * Cade Tropeano as Dubious Boy, Dion's classmate and school show member * Diana Chiritescu as Jill Noonan * Kylen Davis as Malik, Nicole's teenage neighbor and Tessa's son *

Dana Gourrier Dana Gourrier is an American actress, known for her roles as Tessa on the Netflix show '' Raising Dion'' (2019), Cora in the film ''Django Unchained'' (2012), and as Minnie Mink in ''The Hateful Eight'' (2015), both directed by Quentin Tarantino ...

as Tessa, Nicole's neighbor and Malik's mother * J. Harrison Ghee as Kwame *

Deirdre Lovejoy Deirdre Lovejoy (born June 30, 1962) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman on HBO’s ''The Wire''. She is also known for her roles as serial killer Heather Taffet (aka "The Grav ...

as Charlotte Tuck, a woman saved by Mark in a storm. She is another woman with superpowers from the Iceland event. * Josh Ventura as David Marsh (season 2), the new vice president of operations at BIONA * Rome Flynn as Tevin Wakefield (season 2), Dion's new trainer at BIONA who has powers and Nicole's love interest * Aubriana Davis as Janelle Carr (season 2), a 15-year-old who has trouble controlling her powers * Michael Anthony as Gary Stafford (season 2), a security guard at Dion's school * Tracey Bonner as Simone Carr (season 2), Janelle's mother

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2022)

Production

Development

On October 5, 2017, it was announced that

had given the production a straight-to-series order for a first season consisting of nine episodes. The series is based on the comic book of the same name written by Dennis Liu and illustrated by Jason Piperberg. Liu then directed a short film based on his comic. Carol Barbee adapted a screenplay from the short film and comic and is the showrunner for the series. Executive producers for the series were set to include Liu, Barbee, Michael B. Jordan, Charles D. King, Kim Roth, Poppy Hanks, Kenny Goodman, and Michael Green. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Outlier Society Productions and MACRO. The series premiered on October 4, 2019. On January 2, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for an eight-episode second season, which was released on February 1, 2022. In April 2022, the series was canceled.

Casting

Alongside the initial announcement of the series order, it was confirmed that Michael B. Jordan had been cast in a supporting role in the series. In June 2018, it was announced that

, Jazmyn Simon,

, and Ja'Siah Young had been cast as a series regulars. In July 2018, Donald Paul was cast as a recurring role in the series. On January 29, 2019, it was reported that

had joined the cast in a recurring capacity. On February 23, 2021, Rome Flynn, Aubriana Davis, Tracey Bonner, and Josh Ventura joined the cast undisclosed capacities while Ali Ahn and Griffin Robert Faulkner were promoted to series regulars for the second season. On August 24, 2021, Michael Anthony joined the cast in a recurring role for the second season.

Filming

Principal photography for the series began in late July 2018 in various cities and towns in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

including

Chattahoochee Hills Chattahoochee Hills (formerly Chattahoochee Hill Country) is a city in southern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. It is the incorporated part of a region called "Chattahoochee Hill Country", an area encompassing approximately southwest of ...

and Fairburn. Filming continued in the same areas in August 2018 and also took place in

Midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown for short, is a Urban area, high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used ...

at locations including the Fox Theatre. Filming for the second season began on January 25, 2021, and concluded on May 25, 2021.

Reception

The review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported an 83% approval rating for the series, based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "While its family drama and superhero aspirations don't quite come together, compelling performances and a sense of wonder keep ''Raising Dion'' afloat and suggest that with a little more guidance it could become something great". On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, the series was assigned a score of 61 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The second season was watched for over 108.75 million hours in its first 26 days on the platform according to Netflix top 10s.

Accolades

The show received five nominations at the

1st Children's and Family Emmy Awards The 1st Children's and Family Emmy Awards were presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) to honor the best in American children's and family-oriented Broadcast programming, television programming in 2021 and 2022. ...

: Outstanding Children's or Family Viewing Series, Outstanding Younger Performer in a Preschool, Children's or Young Teen Program (for Young and Haney), Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Live Action Program, and Outstanding Sound Mixing and Sound Editing for a Live Action Program.

Controversy

In February 2022, artist Jason Piperberg posted a series of tweets regarding the authorship of the show. In the thread, he states "Dennis uiwrote the script. I did all the art, letters, and vast majority of book layout/file prep for the 1 and only issue of the comic. With that in mind, it seems pretty odd that only Dennis is credited when the show states that it's 'based on the comic book by' both of us."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raising Dion 2010s American black television series 2010s American drama television series 2010s American science fiction television series 2019 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings 2020s American black television series 2020s American drama television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2010s American superhero television series 2020s American superhero television series American English-language television shows Netflix television dramas Fiction about superhuman abilities American black superhero television shows Child superheroes Television series about families Television series about children Television series about widowhood Television shows based on American comics Television shows filmed in Georgia (U.S. state) Television shows set in Atlanta Fiction about mother–son relationships