The series was announced as commissioned by Netflix in November 2021 with Mouktar Mohammed and Henrietta Lee of New Wave as executive producer and associate producer. The executive producers are Anna Ferguson and Steve Searle of Netflix with Mark Hedges as series producer. The production used a specialized ARRI 35 camera which has been designed to show Black skin in the best and most complimentary way.
Tosin Cole, who plays Michael, stated, "It's about time, bringing London's Black experience to the sci-fi world. We should have already had something like this, but there's no more perfect time than now. So I'm excited to be on something of this scale that hasn't been done before, especially in London."
Why do Michael and the others have yellow glowing eyes in Supacell? Jaundice is a common symptom for individuals diagnosed with sickle cell disease, enabling their eyes to turn yellow. Similarly, Supacell's characters suffer from the same disease and that's where their power comes from. Thus, their yellow glowing eyes subtly hint at real-life symptom and also mark the activation of their power.
Andrew Onwubolu, aka Rapman, is a British rapper, record producer, screenwriter and film director. He is known for dealing with socially conscious themes, as well as his uniquely vivid style of storytelling through the medium of rap.
Rapman began writing Supacell in 2020, the year the pandemic hit everything. There were often heated and frank discussions over writers, special effects and two composers came and went before he persuaded Netflix to let him go with a third, Sillkey, the songwriter, producer and musician. Having persuaded commissioners at Netflix to develop his idea of a drama about a group of regular people in south London who become mysteriously afflicted -- because it's like an illness -- with superpowers, Rapman spent six months writing drafts, alone and then in a writers room, for three of its six episodes and the show's bible.