Robin Joins the TITANS
And then there were three…
The new Titans series featuring a version of DC Comics’ Teen Titans has now added Brenton Thwaites to the cast. He’ll play Dick Grayson, otherwise known as Robin the Boy Wonder, although IMDb lists him as already in the Nightwing persona.
Thwaites, 28, is an Australian native with credits that include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Henry Turner), The Giver (Jonas), and Maleficent (Prince Phillip), so he’s no stranger to genre work. He also played Bek opposite Gerard Butler in Gods of Egypt.
At first glance, Thwaites appears to be somewhat younger than Anna Diop, who was recently cast as Princess Koriand’r (also known as Starfire), but the two are just one year apart in age, so the romance between Grayson and Kory won’t be… awkward. This also plays into the speculation that this Titans team reflects that of the current version in the animated features: Nightwing and Starfire as leaders, training younger heroes such as Raven (Teagan Croft).
This will be the first U.S. television series for Thwaites, who was pursued after breaking into feature films in the wake of his success with Australian series Home and Away and Slide. DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns (now head of DC Entertainment as well) is a co-writer on the new series along with Akiva Goldsman and Greg Berlanti.
“Dick Grayson is one of the most important and iconic heroes in the DC universe, and it wasn’t easy to find him but we have,” Johns said. “Brenton has the emotional depth, heart, danger and physical presence of Batman’s former protege and the Titans’ future leader. We’re extremely lucky he’s chosen to bring his talents to this project and this character.”
No word yet on whether Titans will play nice with the rest of Berlanti’s slate of DC Comics shows, which all have a home at The CW. That would certainly make it easier for the Titans to get one of their most closely associated foes (Deathstroke) back in the barn. Titans, along with the third season of Young Justice, will anchor a lineup of shows for a new direct digital service (think Netflix, but all DC all the time…). The show is set to premiere in 2018.
