Jay Lycurgo Becomes the First Black Actor To Play Robin Joining ‘Titans’ As Tim Drake In Season 3 on HBO Max

Actor Jay Lycurgo has been cast as Tim Drake, aka the third Robin, of the upcoming third season of Titans on HBO Max. The previous two series streamed on the DCU srevice that shuttered last year in anticipation of Max.

Lycurgo will also appear,. as a yet undisclosed character, in director Matt Reeves’ The Batman. his would be the first time a person of color has ever portrayed the Boy Wonder in any live-action media.

Nerdist: In the comics, Tim Drake is a young genius who discovers that Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are Batman and Robin. On the night Dick Grayson’s parents are murdered, a young Tim is at the circus. Watching the tragedy unfold leaves a lasting imprint on him. He always remembered that Dick was the youngest person to perform a particular acrobatic move, one he saw Robin repeat on television news footage.

Tim kept the secret to himself for years. The Joker murders the second Robin, Jason Todd, years later. Not long after, Batman goes off the rails. A now-teenage Tim realized that Batman needed a Robin to keep him grounded. So he revealed to Batman that he knew his secret, and after much training from both Batman and Nightwing, he became the third Robin.

#Titans Season 3 Casts Jay Lycurgo as Tim Drake https://t.co/KNY2dlqkLa pic.twitter.com/NCTeakTIR8

— Variety (@Variety) January 28, 2021

Although this is the first time a POC has played one of the Robins, it almost happened once before. Scary Movie’s Marlon Wayons was originally cast as Robin for Batman Returns. Director Tim Burton decided that film was already overflowing with characters, so his part was cut before shooting. Wayons received $100,000 for the role, and never even threw one batarang. The part would eventually go to Chris O’Donnell in Batman Forever.

Deadline: According to the comics, Lycurgo’s Drake will be the third Robin to serve under Batman. Titans, which will return for season three on HBO Max, is produced by Weed Road Pictures and Berlanti Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. Titans was developed by Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns & Greg Berlanti. Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, Greg Walker, Sarah Schechter are the executive producers.