Nate Diana "Indy" Stevenson[1][2] (born Noelle Diana Stevenson, December 31, 1991), known professionally as ND Stevenson, is an American cartoonist and animation producer. He is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the animated television series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, which ran from 2018 to 2020. He is also known for the science fantasygraphic novelNimona, as co-writer of the comic series Lumberjanes, and The Fire Never Goes Out, his autobiographical collection.
Nate Diana Stevenson was born Noelle Diana Stevenson on December 31, 1991, in Columbia, South Carolina, to Diana and Hal Stevenson.[3][4][5] He is the third of five siblings.[6]
During his junior year, he created his soon-to-be popular character Nimona as part of an assignment in one of his classes. In mid-2012, Stevenson began creating a webcomic around the character, also called Nimona, and soon signed with a literary agent who found the webcomic online. The agent helped him sign with HarperCollins to publish Nimona as a graphic novel.[11]Nimona would double as Stevenson's senior thesis in 2012.[9] For his work on Nimona, Stevenson won Slate Magazine's 2012 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Web Comic of the Year[12] and the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: Reprint. Stevenson was also named a 2015 National Book Award Finalist for the graphic novel version of Nimona.[11] Stevenson said that the ability to create comics on his own and create Nimona was what got him a "writing job in animation," bringing him into the animation world.[13]
While in school, Stevenson did freelance illustration for Random House, St. Martin's Press, and Label Magazine. In the summer of 2012, Stevenson interned at BOOM! Studios, a comic publishing house in Los Angeles.[14] Stevenson created the cover art for Rainbow Rowell's novel Fangirl, which was published in 2013.[15] He also worked with Ryan North on his book To Be or Not to Be (2013), a choose-your-own-adventure-book based on Shakespeare's Hamlet.[14]
2013โ2020: Lumberjanes, She-Ra and The Fire Never Goes Out
After his graduation in 2013, Stevenson returned to BOOM! Studios to help develop, and eventually write, Lumberjanes.[14]Lumberjanes won Eisner Awards for Best New Series and Best Publication for Teens in 2015.[16] In 2020, Stevenson was described as executive producer and writer of a one-hour animated special introducing the characters of Lumberjanes,[17][18][19]an animated series which will stream on HBO Max.[20] It was also announced that he would write and direct episodes for the main series, while serving an executive producer.[21][22][23] He was also described as working on the series in 2021[24][25][26] and 2022.[27] In a June 2023 interview, Stevenson noted he was "developing Lumberjanes" and "figuring out that world."[28]
In 2015, Stevenson wrote for Marvel Comics on the comics Thor Annual[29][30] and Runaways.[31][32] He did the cover art for Jennifer Longo's novels Up to This Pointe (hardcover edition) and Six Feet Over It (paperback edition).[15] Stevenson was part of the writing team of Disney's animated seriesWander Over Yonder, beginning with the second season in 2015.[33] In 2017, Stevenson appeared in two episodes of Critical Role's first campaign as Tova.[34] He has subsequently appeared in three Critical Roleone-shot episodes between 2017 and 2022 as himself, Tova, and Peter Pan.[35][36][37] In June 2022, his character Tova was featured in a line of Critical Role miniatures by WizKids.[38]
Stevenson was the creator and executive producer of DreamWorks Animation's rebooted She-Ra and the Princesses of Power animated television series on Netflix, which ran for five seasons from 2018 to 2020.[39][40]She-Ra received critical acclaim, with particular praise for its diverse cast and the complex relationship between She-Ra and her best friend-turned-archenemy Catra. In 2019, the show was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming,[41] as well as a Daytime Emmy Award at the 46th Daytime Emmy Awards. In 2021, the series was tied with First Day when it won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids and Family Programming.[42][43][44][45] In 2023, Stevenson stated that he started playing Dungeons & Dragons when he started developing the series, and stated that his Tiefling warlock character would inspire Glimmer to have teleportation powers, and run out of power at "inconvenient moments" or go into situations without much thought.[8] In a 2023 interview, Stevenson described She-Ra as the "most intensive job" he ever had, and said that once it ended, he "literally had nothing to do for the first time in my life."[46]
His autobiographical collection of drawings and journals, The Fire Never Goes Out, was published in March 2020. The New Yorker's review described it as "a memoir of sorts ... , a coming-out story, a love story, a tale of disorientingly rapid professional triumph, and a story about mental health and illness, showing the young artist figuring out what [he] must do-first to make art and then to get well."[47]
2021โpresent: Adaptations and other work
In October 2021, Stevenson started a Substack titled "I'm Fine I'm Fine Just Understand" which will explore topics such as mental health, gender identity, and more, with premium subscribers given access to comics which "reflect more personal/sensitive topics."[26][48] In August 2022, the Substack was nominated for a Digital Book of the Year Harvey Award.[49][50]
On February 4, 2022, Stevenson posted a fan comic of The Book of Boba Fett entitled "This Place Was Home" on Twitter, which received a positive critical reception.[51][27]The Book of Boba Fett, which was later posted on Substack, features Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, Jango Fett, and Zam Wesell, with much of the comics focusing on "Boba's childhood relationship with Zam".[51] In a later interview, Stevenson noted that at a young age, Wesell created a huge impression on him, noting he latched onto Zam because she was a shapeshifter, causing him to come up with a version of the story when Zam lived, "became the main character" in a "whole parallel world" that Stevenson constructed. This interest began his love of shapeshifters, which included "Carrie Kelley in the Batman comics."[28] He also expressed his affinity for Wesell on various other occasions,[52][53] even stating that Double Trouble in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is meant as an homage to Wesell.[54] In a 2023 interview, Stevenson said that he gravitated toward Wesell, with the character causing him to want to see more about shapeshifting and "how far you could go with that".[8]
In a June 2023 interview, Stevenson said he worked to ensure that Nimona was portrayed correctly in the animated film, as a character who was at the "heart of the story" rather than an "accessory",[28] and enjoyed his work with the film's directors, Nick Bruno and Troy Quane.[55] Stevenson also noted he was working on an unannounced "two book series of novels" based on stories predating Nimona, which were originally written in his teenage years.[28] In an interview with TheGamer, Stevenson said that this project originated as a two-book series originally written when he was 12, influenced by Christopher Paoliniโs Eragon, and was originally 600 pages long. He noted that he is trying to rewrite and illustrate the story, which TheGamer described as "queer and involv[ing]...pirates."[46]
In November 2023, Out listed Stevenson as a "disruptor" who made the world "a better place for LGBTQ+ people."[56] In an interview with the magazine, Stevenson said he was entering a "new creative phase" in his life amid "turbulence of late-stage capitalism". He added that "the world is so much bigger and weirder than we know โ when you love someone for who they are, the understanding will follow."[56] In another interview, he hoped for more epic romances and adventures with queer themes, noted that "queer stories also resonate with straight audiences," and argued that despite transphobia and homophobia in the U.S., there is a "little golden age of queer representation on TV" and hoped that creators broadened their imaginations to what is possible, rather than constraining themselves.[46]
Personal life
Stevenson married fellow cartoonist Molly Knox Ostertag in September 2019.[57] He began working on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power at the same time that he began dating Ostertag.[58] He described her as influential on the show "from the very beginning";[59] Ostertag originated a major plot twist in the show's penultimate season.[60]
In August 2021, Stevenson changed his first name to ND, as noted by CBR, Out, ComicsBeat, Xtra Magazine, and Bleeding Cool.[66][67][68][69][70] In October 2021, Stevenson said that he was "becoming increasingly aware of the practical need for a new, less gendered [name]... right now I don't really feel like I have one".[71] On June 30, 2022, Stevenson announced he had chosen the name Nate, which he had been using privately since 2021, while being addressed as "ND Stevenson" professionally. Stevenson stated that his pronouns are he/him and he accepts "Indy" as a nickname.[1][2]
In an August 2020 interview, Stevenson stated that he has bipolar disorder.[73] In a February 2021 interview, he mentioned having ADHD and its impact on his work and life during the COVID-19 pandemic.[24]
"Doomed Youth" (writer with Sanford Greene, in #1โ4, 2015)
"Thor" (writer with Marguerite Sauvage, in Thor Annual #1, April 2015, collected in Volume 2: Who Holds the Hammer?, hc, 136 pages, 2015)
DC Comics
"Wonder World" (artist with James Tynion IV, in Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #23โ24, February 2015, collected in Volume 2, tpb, 144 pages, 2015)
^ abND Stevenson (w, a). "Nate"I'm Fine I'm Fine Just Understand (June 30, 2022). Substack. Archived from the original on 2022-12-19.
^ abMcCauley, Tara (July 1, 2022). "She-Ra Showrunner Reveals His New Name, Pronouns With a Charming Mini-Comic". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022. In Stevenson's comic, shared via Twitter, the artist reintroduced himself to fans as Nate, a name which he stated he's been 'using privately with close friends for almost a year.' While Stevenson now uses he/him pronouns, he discussed gender as a more complex spectrum of which he's been navigating. For this reason, he has chosen to keep his original middle name, Diana. 'It is my way of paying tribute to the other side of me,' Stevenson, who will retain the professional moniker ND, said of his decision.
^"Guest Battle Royale". Critical Role. January 31, 2022. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2022. ND Stevenson as Tova from Campaign 1: Vox Machina & Honey Heist 3: Tova's Honeys
^ abPuc, Samantha (August 11, 2022). "2022 Harvey Awards nominees". gamesradar+. Neworama. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
^Ostertag, Molly [@MollyOstertag] (May 14, 2020). "Big feelings today!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on May 15, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2020 – via Twitter. This text comes from her note attached to the tweet. A tweet following this says that ND began working on the "show bible" (likely meaning the show pitch and backstory) in 2016.
^Wecht, Brian; Gray, Leighton; Stevenson, ND (August 14, 2020). "Episode 26: The Pudding Cup of My Brain (feat. Noelle Stevenson)". YouTube. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020. ...I was really struggling with voicing a certain aspect of my brain and emotional state and that way that it was all rolled together and you know being bipolar and how that felt and I was struggling with how to say it. See 47:06-47:13 in this video.