The long-awaited Titans TV show is finally moving forward in 2017, although details have largely been scarce. We've known the identities of some of the main characters, but not a whole lot else. Now, we have some very good news for fans wondering who could possibly tackle playing legendary DC Comics characters. Titans has officially cast its second superhero: the alien princess Starfire. Anna Diop of 24: Legacy will portray Starfire in Titans.
The Titans version of Starfire -- also known as Koriand'r when not battling bad guys -- will be an alien princess who hails from a warrior planet but arrives on Earth in search of asylum. She has no tolerance for nonsense and is a straight-shooter when she makes it to Earth, and her abilities to fly and shoot energy bolts make her somebody who would be a formidable foe or a very valuable ally. She'll run into the Titans team as she tries to adjust to life on a planet that is very different from her own.
In DC Comics lore, Starfire hails from the planet of Tamaran, where she was a princess before the planet was conquered by outsiders. She fled Tamaran to Earth, where she encountered Dick Grayson (as Robin) and his group of super pals in the Teen Titans. She became a key member of the team, and her superpowers -- consisting of flight, strength, durability, and the ability to fire energy blasts known as "starbolts" -- set her apart from everybody else on Earth.
In addition to her abilities as a superhero, Starfire is quite well known as one of Dick Grayson's most important love interests. Given the fact that Dick will be the leader of the Titans group, the odds are pretty good that sparks will fly between them at some point. Titans will be launching on the new exclusively DC streaming service, so we can be sure that comic canon will play a part in the execution of the series.
The Titans version of Dick Grayson is starting the team in an attempt to get out from under his mentor's shadow, which has always meant that he's likely to be at least a young adult, but the casting of 13-year-old Teagan Croft as Raven could have been a sign that the rest of the heroes would be younger and therefore unlikely to hook up with an adult Dick Grayson. The casting of Anna Diop may indicate that Croft will be an outlier, and the rest of the team -- aside, perhaps, from Beast Boy -- will be older. We may have to wait for further castings to find out for sure.
Anna Diop is probably best known for her role as Nicole Carter in 24: Legacy, which debuted on Fox earlier this year but got the axe back in June. She also appeared in The Messengers on The CW and Greenleaf on OWN. Starfire will be a brand new kind of role for her, and we can only hope that the show will give her the chance to shine. Deadline reports that Starfire will be a series regular, so we should see plenty of her in action on the series.
Honestly, my biggest question about Anna Diop as Starfire right now is how far the show will go to transform Diop into the Starfire of DC lore. Starfire's bright eyes and big hair are pretty iconic, and it should be interesting to see if Titans plans on incorporating them. As for her costume... well, we'll have to wait and see.
Titans will debut on DC's direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2018. For what you can watch in the meantime, take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule.
