DC Comics’ upcoming live action Titans series just found their Dick Grayson in Brenton Thwaites.
Deadline reports “Brenton Thwaites has been tapped for the lead role of Dick Grayson in the new live-action series Titans.”
Thwaites joins Teagan Croft who will play Raven and Anna Diop who was cast as Starfire.
Thwaites recently starred in Disney’s Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales as Henry Turner. He also starred in Gods of Egypt as Bek and in Maleficent as Prince Phillip. He was also in the dystopian The Giver as Jonas. He is working on three upcoming projects Ghosts of War, Office Uprising, and An Interview with God.
DC Entertainment’s Geoff Johns praised Thwaites casting, “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.” Johns also spoke to the difficulty in finding their Dick Grayson, “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.”
Dick Grayson was the original Robin, Batman’s famous sidekick. His parents were murdered during their high-flying circus act. Bruce Wayne became Dick’s legal guardian and trained him to fight beside him. However, after years of fighting beside Bruce, Dick struggled with finding his own identity outside of Batman’s shadow. He would leave Batman’s shadow and become Nightwing and eventually go on to lead his own team and family in the Titans.
Titans comes from the minds of Greg Berlanti, Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, Sarah Schechter and Warner Bros. It will be part of DC Entertainments direct-to-consumer digital streaming service.
The show is expected to follow the Titans, but it’s really code for the Teen Titans. The Titans are described as a “group of young soon-to-be superheroes recruited from every corner of the DC Universe. In the action-adventure series, Dick Grayson emerges from the shadows to become the leader of a fearless band of new heroes that includes Starfire, Raven, and others.”
It’s unclear whether Thwaites will be Robin or Nightwing in the series, but given the youthfulness of the cast and the description it’s more than likely Dick Grayson will still be Robin.
Titans is expected to debut along with Young Justice Outsiders on the DC streaming service sometime in 2018.