DC's live-action Titans TV show looks to include flashbacks to Robin's past, along with a character who could be Bruce Wayne/Batman. Brenton Thwaites of The Giver and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales fame is playing the grown-up Dick Grayson in the show's present-day, and the character will presumably serve as the de facto leader of the Titans on the series (as he typically has in Titans comics and animated TV shows past).
Titans was created by Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (The Dark Tower) and DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, along with Arrowverse architects Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. The live-action DC Comics TV show spent years in development at TNT before the network ultimately decided to take a pass on the series. Titans appeared to be all but dead in the water until this past spring, when DC announced its plans to launch an exclusive streaming service that would kickoff with both Titans and the long-awaited third season of the animated series Young Justice. Casting updates for Titans have been flowing in at a pretty regular pace over the months since then.
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THS has now provided several Titans casting breakdowns and character descriptions, as well as casting calls that hint at superheroes like Wonder Girl and Roy Harper showing up on the series in supporting roles. The site has now gotten ahold of the description for a character known as "Young John Crossland", which in actuality appears to be a young Dick Grayson. You can read the casting call in full below:
[YOUNG JOHN CROSSLAND] Male, Caucasian, To play 10-13, athletic, lean, approximately 5'0" and not afraid of heights. Please list height on submission. RECURRING GUEST STAR
This isn't the first indication that Titans will include flashbacks to Dick Grayson's tragic past. Previously-leaked Robin casting audition videos for the show also suggested that Dick's acrobatic family, the Flying Graysons, would appear on the show via flashbacks to Dick's life prior to their deaths, when he was a kid. Perhaps more intriguing, however, is the description for a character that is being referred to as "Dave Story", which THS is speculating could be the casting call for Bruce Wayne/Batman. You can read the official description of the role below:
[DAVE STORY] Male, mid 30s-40s, Caucasian. The downfalls of others only make this man stronger. Polished. Unwavering. Think a young Jack Nicholson. RECURRING GUEST STAR.
Titans is expected to remain mostly faithful to Dick Grayson's backstory in the world of DC Comics, by having Bruce Wayne adopt him after his circus-performing parents are killed. It's possible that Titans will even show Bruce and Dick training during its flashback sequences, providing the show with its own small screen version of the Caped Crusader. Alternatively, Bruce might only appear in the shadows and/or as a mysterious presence, similar to how Superman was portrayed in the first season of the live-action Supergirl TV series (before Tyler Hoechlin officially donned the Man of Steel's Kryptonian armor for season 2).
If Batman does appear on Titans, it seems safe to assume that it will only be during flashbacks to Dick's past and/or via brief appearances in the show's present-day. Dick will presumably be operating as Robin separate from the Caped Crusader for most of the series, as he typically does in the Teen Titans comics and animated movies/TV shows. Not to mention, between Gotham featuring a teenaged proto-Batman version of Bruce Wayne and Ben Affleck playing the Caped Crusader in the DC Films Universe (for now, anyway), DC has already hit its quota when it comes to having more than one live-action Batman going at a time.
MORE: Arrow Showrunner is Open to Titans Crossover
Titans premieres on DC's streaming service in 2018.
Source: THS