donna troy titans

Warner Brothers’ ‘Titans’ live action series features a cast including Dick Grayson (a.k.a. Robin and possibly Nightwing), Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire, which largely replicates the cast of the hit cartoon series ‘Teen Titans’ and ‘Teen Titans GO!’, but we also know that Alan Ritchson and Minka Kelly have been cast to portray Hawk & Dove, otherwise known as Hank Hall and Dawn Granger, two associate characters who will guest star on a recurring basis with the potential to join the main cast in the second season or even be spun off into their own show.  Now it looks as though ‘Titans’ is adding another classic character from the comics– someone who has played a vital role in the team’s history, but also someone who has very rarely been used in any adaptations in other media.

Here is the latest casting description for the series:

[RUTH GIBBS]Female, 20s, Caucasian or Latina or Middle Eastern, or ethnically ambiguous. Confident and kick ass. Educated. RECURRING GUEST STAR THIS SEASON WITH AN OPTION FOR SERIES REGULAR NEXT SEASON.

While there isn’t a lot to go on, it certainly sounds as though this could apply to founding Titan Donna Troy!  The fact that the producers are open to ethnic casting would seem to lend credence to this, as Gal Gadot, who is Israeli, portrays Wonder Woman in the movies.  An exotic Wonder Girl was previously included on the animated ‘Super Best Friends Forever’ shorts that aired as part of Cartoon Network’s ‘DC Nation’ block.  Due to licensing issues, Donna was omitted from the early 2000s ‘Teen Titans’ series, but the character just popped up in a small cameo in the direct-to-video ‘Teen Titans: The Judas Contract’ movie, seemingly indicating that any legal problems involving the character have been resolved.  With the monster success of ‘Wonder Woman’ this summer, it would be logical for the ‘Titans’ series to attempt to tap into that by bringing in their own Amazing Amazon.

As Wonder Girl, Donna was a founder of the original Teen Titans and was a fixture on the team for decades.  When the comic was relaunched as ‘The New Teen Titans’ in 1980, her role became even stronger as she served as the half-way point between the unbridled Starfire and the suppressed Raven.  She also grew into a leader during periods when Dick Grayson was absent.  She was the center of two of the most popular and memorable stories from that time, ‘Who Is Donna Troy?”, in which Dick uncovered her mysterious origin and ‘We Are Gathered Here Today’ in which she married her human love Terry Long, in one of the most lavish comic book weddings ever.

Unfortunately, her origin as Wonder Woman’s adopted human younger sister was trashed by ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ and Donna, like many other characters including Hawkman and the Legion of Super Heroes, had to be reinvented… over and over, to the point where it seems that writers gave up, which ultimately led to her being killed off.  (She’s back.)

While her fellow founding Titans Aqualad/Tempest, Kid Flash/The Flash, Speedy/Arsenal and most of all Robin/Nightwing have been heavily featured in spinoffs and adaptations, Donna, who also goes by Troia, has been absent from most.  But if her rights are sorted out, and once again, in the wake of ‘Wonder Woman’, it will be a real treat for her to finally cross over into the mainstream, via ‘Titans’.

‘Titans’ comes to Warner Brothers upcoming DC Comics streaming service sometime in 2018.  The series stars Brenton Twaits as Dick Grayson/Robin, Teagan Croft as Rachel Roth/Raven, Anna Diop as Koriand’r/Starfire, Ryan Potter as Garfield Logan/Beast Boy and Lindsey Gort as Amy Rohrbach, with Ritchson and Kelly as recurring guest stars.

Source: That Hashtag Show