Live action Teen Titans casts RAVEN

DC has cast Australian actress Teagan Croft as the iconic (and best ^_^) Teen Titan member Raven, one of four leads for their upcoming live action TV show for their streaming service to debut in 2018.

http://deadline.com/2017/08/titans-teagan-croft-cast-raven-greg-berlanti-dc-digital-series-1202142006/

I knew they were going young for the role but I'm a little surprised they went this young (she's 13 years old) but I'm seeing it as encouraging - it looks like they intend to get a lot of mileage out of the character and I personally believe Raven works best as a pubescent.

I like it because... the eyes are perfect.

And looking through her photos she pulls off the expression of reserved horror very well...

I haven't seen her in anything but her only two previous credits are something called Science Fiction: The Osiris Child and... what else... Home and Away. (I don't watch my country's TV)

The casting call that appeared online weeks ago said "mid-teens" so I'm taking this as a positive sign that she must've really nailed the part to get selected despite being so young.

She kinda looks like the girl that plays Selina Kyle on Gotham. And man, they ARE going young.

@black_wreath: i agree she does look like Raven. Maybe she will grow into the role if the show last a couple of years.

@black_wreath: i am curious to see who they will pick to play Starfire.

I'm happy she's an actual teenager as I always think it looks ridiculous when someone like Tobey Maguire plays a high school student.

The audition notice said mid-teens so hopefully that's a sign she nailed it if they were willing to go younger to get her.

In case anyone was curious the notice also indicated Beast Boy will be late teens (though I wouldn't be surprised if he and Raven were portrayed as the same age) and that Nightwing and Starfire would be in their 20's.

Will this be separate from the cinematic universe or kinda like Marvel's netflix? Anyway casting choice looks good if she can act.

She looks good for the role.

@gotoucanario: That's my question.

She looks good for the role. Hopefully, she has the acting chops to pull it off.

@black_wreath: I heard about this yesterday not to optimistic about the actress but hopefully she can act well but I'll still give the show a try she definitely has the eyes for Raven 13 is pretty young imo should of casted someone a bit older.

@gotoucanario: No it will be on DC's new streaming service.

She just needs some Black no. 1 in that hair.

From what I know, in the show Raven is only just starting to discover her powers and having nightmares so it's definitely Raven at the very start of her road.

I know she'll be older and they're going for an "elegant" actress it seems. (I'm happy she won't be an airhead)

No official news on that yet.

I wonder who's going to be playing Dick, and Starfire.

@black_wreath: it will be strange Titans with no Cyborg on the show.

I thought they should've gone older for X-23 but that turned out great.

Child actors these days seem to be much better than in the past.

If nothing else, a Raven that's younger than Beast Boy shows they have a vision for the character, even if I'm not sure what it is.

Give her black hair!

They are still trying to do this?

Even if the actor is older I wouldn't be surprised if Gar is stated to be the same age as Rae on the show since Teagan Croft is noticeably younger than they were looking for (again, giving me confidence that it was her performance that won her the part).

I have a possible theory that Dick might not be the long term main character on the show and Raven will take over that role.

Not as leader though, The Titans should not be lead by a 13 year old... Even if their dad is Trigon. *cough*orBatman!*cough*

I'm sure the studio has a hair department. ^_^

13?

For real

It's strange Titans with no Cyborg in the comics.

Not gonna let it kill my buzz though, at least I'm getting my Titans show. ^_^

Well she'll be 14 when the show airs which is the age Kori said Raven is in the animated movies. So there's that... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Should of casted Idris Elba.....

Little younger than the Titans should be. I always thought they should be 15-17, with Garfield being the youngest at 14. I always thought should Raven should be 16 when she's a Teen Titan.

Still, I'll give it a chance.

Meh, looks about right to me.

Yaas! My favorite female anti-hero gets a good person to act her out!

Just change the hair color and skin tone and it'll be just like her!

I hope the actual movie is focused on her, Dick, and Trigon.

I think it's smart to go young, if this show lasts a decent number of seasons you don't want the characters too look too old for the characters

Is this Titans or Teen Titans?

@fangdanerd: Teen Titans lol no one in the Titans is 13 lol.

@greenarrow5476: I know that but I thought it was stated that this would be based on Titans.

I think that, once they "age out," they can include a Titans group, as well. Similar to what Young Justice did, but without timeskips.

@jedixman: assuming the show stays on long enough it might get cancelled who knows although I hope it's going to be good.

Bear in mind I'm only stating the age of actress, not the character. The ages of both don't always line up, see: every Spider-Man movie.

From the character description it looks clear they want Raven to start the series in a very vulnerable place, her being young is a pretty easy way to convey that.

I'd be lying if I didn't also suspect that a certain character from Stranger Things might have influenced this decision lol.

Trigon is definitely going to be a thing in this, from what I've read Raven's motivation is find out who he is and what is wrong with her. I'm not sure where Azarath comes in, if at all.

It's worth noting that Raven and Gar will be teens but Dick and Kori will be young adult age. So I guess it's both.

Sure, but I don't see any 13 year old pulling off a 16-18 year old by any stretch. So the ages will probably line up (unless Raven is meant to be "older than she looks" through some sort of demon explanation)

Yes, but only in small doses. Take the animated series: Raven was at her most vulnerable when she appeared as a 10 year old in the season 5 finale. But that was not her default look, it was her state at the time.

Define "young adults." If Robin is 17-18, fine. But any older and it would just look like Robin / Nightwing commanding child soldiers.

Going by the casting call.... They're at least college age.

The show is only starting with 4 members and they've all got their own issues. It'll probably be more like Dick taking in young metahumans, the synopsis looks to indicate his intention is to stay solo but his conscience won't allow it.

She's too young in my opinion. It was bad enough she was scaled back to being 16 in the comics under John, now she's loosing 2 more years in the period of life where the body changes the most?

And I have to ask, for what? What does anyone gain by making her this young?

Real young looks the part needs dark hair but cant be any worse than Jesse Eisenberg as lex luthor/riddler/mark zuckerberg

Again, I'm only stating the age of actress, not the character. The ages of both don't always line up.

What does anyone gain? Raven has a long origin story for a young character, I theorize they want to show-not-tell as much of that as possible. I, personally, would rather that than exposition. For example: Raven finding out about her father would've been a pivotal moment in her life, I like that I'll get to see that play out in real time rather than a flashback or something.

Besides, she'll be 16 before you know it.

She's young enough to play the character for a few years while retaining a youthful look.

Maybe, but in this case you are doing the reverse, you are asking a younger actor to portray an older one at an early stage in both their lives. Like Shia LaBouef was something in his mid-twenties when asked to play Sam Witwiky who's something like 18. I dont have a problem with that because Shia would atleast have know about the dificulties of life at that stage... Teagan on the other hand does not know what its like as a 16 year old, plus if I am not mistaken 16 is about that age when shapes really start to appear on the female body.

And I'm in the other camp, I'd rather have Raven arrive knowing about her own back story rather than discovering it during it... because that path has been trampled down by dozens of characters before her (like every single X-Man and Inhuman), and most people familiar with the character will also know this and will just be tapping their feet for her to realize it as well. Not to mention, I think I am right in saying that part of the appeal of Raven has been her endurance; she knows her father is the devil, she knows she's destined to do terrible things, but she pushes back against something that seems inevitable all on her own.

Assuming it gets more than one season that is.

The actress girl looks really fine for what they seem to want for the role. However it is dissapointing they had go to such young age (while I understand Nightwing will be in his 30's or so?).

I love the Titans and I just waited a live TV series, however I think this will be intended mostly for a kids audience and will lack most of the more dark or gritty stuffs that can show up for a bit more older audience. Looks for now more like a rehash of the cartoons but with live actors and with even younger characters (some of them, some are older).

They also seem to abandond the original backstory of her (like being raised in Azarath, knew her powers and who's her father, keeping all secret and shrouded in mistery etc)

Considering that originally she was the one who gathered together the new Teen Titans team, and everyone there was around the same age more or less (late teens or so, I believe) this is a bit dissapoiting, I hope they won't mess this up (but it does look like that a bit now)

The actress looks the role, but I have a bad feeling about this series. Nearly as bad as that Karate Kid series they announced for YouTube Red. I don't see Titans having that much of a budget and I fear it will look as bad as Sony Playstation's Powers live-action series.

I was hoping the TT would be 15-17 but I guess we will have to see their origin storiesor something.

Wait, there only going to be 4 members (Gar, Raven, Dick and Kory)? Seems a little too sparse for a Titans show. I would add at least one more member (Donna or Garth, maybe) just to fill it out.

I don't know how this series will line up with the CWverse, so I'm not sure if Wally or Roy will ever be able to show up, though I would love it if they could.

I think I heard a rumour that they wanted a Black actress for Kory. I wouldn't really mind, just as long as they use makeup or CG to make her skin that inhuman orange/gold and give her the all green eyes.

It certainly won't look as good as theatrical. However, this will be the flagship series for DC's streaming service. I would think that they would want to make it look at least as good as the CW shows. I mean, three of the four characters have powers that would require quite a bit of CG.

Noice reference.

Didn't even know they were still going ahead with this.

I really thought she was gonna be black

I think they should have cast someone a little older, but I'll reserve judgement until I see the show.

I believe DC is thinking big picture when catering to a mainstream audience, an audience that tends to not be fond of long backstories for characters. Titans has four main characters so I forgive some simplification. I actually think DCTV is pretty effective at condensing history for casual viewers: "My name is Oliver Queen, here's everything you need to know packaged short and sweet..."

From the casting call, this is hardly an unrecognizable version of Raven - even she was called "Sarah", hers was the most obvious of them all. This is still Raven, starting her story earlier won't change that.

They only said they were willing to go as old as 30 for the actor, I highly doubt Nightwing will be in his 30's in the show.

I wouldn't worry about this being too kid-orientated, the casting call describes dark and complex characters - Dick is apparently has quite a scar collection.

This appears to be more in line with New 52 Raven and I'm sure they put a bit of animated Raven in there too for mass appeal. There's no reason to believe they've messed this up yet - how many adaptations have made alterations? The beloved 2003 cartoon made a shit-ton.