Having been a beloved comic book property for decades before becoming a darling among animation lovers beginning in 2003, one could say that the Teen Titans have been overdue for a live action adaptation for quite some time. Well, actually, they were set to headline their own movie with a theatrical release projected for 2010, but that endeavor was one of many unfortunately killed by the writers’ strike.
Fortunately, things have turned around as of late, with a live action Titans series slated to debut sometime in 2018 via a new digital streaming service that Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are cooking up. Not being one to ignore the elephant in the room, we couldn’t help but notice “Teen” being absent from the title, possibly due to avoiding consumer confusion with the currently ongoing Teen Titans Go! animated series.
Still, it should be noted that the “Titans” and “Teen Titans” actually happen to be two different teams with two different comic books both being currently published by DC. The former is comprised of members of the latter who’ve since aged up a bit, with the latter being made up by a younger crop. Thus, we suspected the live action series to follow suit.
Well, that changed when 13-year-old Teagan Croft was cast as Raven, forcing us to believe her co-stars would be in the same age range. But, as it turns out, the producers have thrown us for a loop by filling the role of Starfire with 29-year-old Anna Diop (24: Legacy).
Here’s a description of her character, per Deadline:
Starfire (aka Koriand’r) is an alien princess from a warrior planet who seeks asylum on Earth. A no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners stranger on our world, she has the ability to shoot energy bolts and fly. Searching for her place on Earth, she’ll come into contact with the Titans.
While we’re not ruling out Diop’s Starfire being younger than the actress’ actual age, this now calls into question who will fill the role of Dick Grayson, the only other member of the Titans we know to be showing up for certain. It’d make sense for him to appear in his Robin guise as not to step on the toes of Chris McKay’s Nightwing movie, but we wouldn’t want to see him still masquerading as the Boy Wonder if he’s being played by an actor in his thirties. Plus, knowing that he and Starfire have been a romantic item in other media, it’d be downright weird if, say, a 14-year-old ends up being cast. Hopefully, answers will arrive before long.