Skip to main content

Australian actor Brenton Thwaites tabbed as Robin in upcoming 'Titans'

Brenton Thwaites Dick Grayson Robin Titans
Image used with permission by copyright holder
In April, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment announced plans to launch a DC-branded, direct-to-consumer digital service in 2018. The platform will feature two series intially — first, a revival of the celebrated cartoon series Young Justice: Outsiders, and second, the live-action Titans, which follows a group of young soon-to-be-superheroes recruited from across the DC universe.

Over the past few months, DC has been filling out the cast for Titans, tabbing Anna Diop (24: Legacy) as Starfire and Teagan Croft (The Osiris Child) as Raven. On Thursday, Deadline reported the newest official addition to the team: Australian Brenton Thwaites (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), 28, who will take the role of Dick Grayson — better known as Robin, the team’s leader.

Recommended Videos

Thwaites and Croft have both appeared in the long-running Australian soap opera Home and Away, but Thwaites was on the show between 2011 and 2012, while Croft’s run was in 2016.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Like most superheroes, Grayson sports a tragic background story — his parents were circus acrobats murdered by a mob boss in the midst of an extortion scheme (though this varies, depending which comic you have read) — after which he was adopted by Bruce Wayne and groomed into a sidekick. In many timelines, the Grayson character eventually splits from Batman to take on the guise of Nightwing.

We don’t yet know whether Cyborg and Beast Boy will fill out the Titans roster, as they did in each of the popular animated series based on the group, which aired on Cartoon Network.

The series is produced by WB-DC bigwig Greg Berlanti, alongside Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, Sarah Schechter, and Warner Bros. TV. In combination, the team has experience writing for several popular superhero shows, including The FlashArrow, and Supergirl, among others. Titans was originally ordered as a pilot in 2014 by TNT; at the time, Goldsman and Marc Haimes (Kubo and the Two Strings) were on board as lead writers. Due to some internal upheaval at TNT, the project was scrapped before its Warner Bros. revival.

Warner Bros. upcoming over-the-top (OTT) platform will be the second such service launched by the company, following the April debut of Boomerang, a $5 per month service for cartoon series like Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo.

Nick Hastings
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Nick is a Portland native and a graduate of Saint Mary's College of California with a Bachelor's of Communication. Nick's…
Time to plan for the NCAA Playoffs Bowl Games, where will you watch?
Watch NCAA Playoffs on Sling with football players in view

Are you ready for the college football playoffs? Not mentally — we know you’re mentally ready — we mean ready in the sense that do you have a service that will help you watch the games in a convenient and affordable way? If not, we recommend that you check out Sling, which is offering some pretty crazy deals on, you guessed it, an easy and convenient way to catch college football games.

Sling is offering their Orange or Blue plan for a base price of $45.99, or their Orange or Blue plan with local channels (which may open up games from your favorite local teams) at a price of $50.99, or just $5 more. However, for a limited time you will be able to get either of these plans for half off, a generous offering from a great streaming platform. Tap the button below to check it out for yourself or keep reading to see what games you get with each plan, other goodies that the plans provide, and all of the key information you need to make your choice.

Read more
The 5 best TV performances of 2024, ranked
best tv performmances 2024 ken leung industry

Television continues to reach new heights. Thanks to the competitiveness between the streamers, there have never been more TV shows to consume. Some are undoubtedly bad, but quite a few are good, with some achieving greatness. Shōgun, a show where Japanese is the dominant language, captivated the country on its way to setting Emmy records. Bridgerton continued its streaming dominance with massive viewership for season 3. And Matt Reeves proved his Batman universe could translate to the small screen with The Penguin.

A show is nothing without its cast, and several actors gave career-best performances in 2-24. Anna Sawai, Jeremy Allen White, Jean Smart, and Richard Gadd leave 2024 with Emmy gold. While those performances were undoubtedly great, there is an abundance of other roles deserving of recognition. These are the not-so-obvious five best performances of 2024.
5. Jessica Williams - Shrinking (2023-)

Read more
The greatest disaster movie ever made just turned 50. Here’s why it still entertains
Paul Newman and Steve McQueen face each other in The Towering Inferno.

In the 1970s, disaster movies were the superhero cinema of their day. In other words, these were the films that brought movie fans into theaters, which led to blockbusters like Earthquake, Airport, and The Poseidon Adventure. But the genre reached its zenith 50 years ago this month with the release of The Towering Inferno.

Ironically, The Towering Inferno's influence can be felt in the disaster films of the '90s, including Titanic and Independence Day, both of which featured large ensemble casts and special effects extravaganzas. During and after its release, The Towering Inferno was recognized for its achievements (the film nabbed eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture). It ended up winning Best Original Song, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. Yet, the bigger prize for the studios behind the film is that The Towering Inferno made $203.3 million against a $14 million budget. Even now, those are the kind of results that get film executives celebrating with cartwheels and champagne.

Read more