Drew Van Acker Joins 'Titans' As Aqualad For Season 2

Actor Drew Van Acker, best known for playing Jason DiLaurentis, posted a selfie on Instagram, with the caption: “#DCUniverse #titans” and the website TV Insider has confirmed that Van Acker will be playing Aqualad on the upcoming second season.

 

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#DCUniverse #titans

A post shared by Drew Van Acker (@drewvanacker) on

This casting is kind of interesting because based on this picture, Van Acker is the spitting image of the classic comics version of AquaMAN, but his sidekick Aqualad, a.k.a. Garth, had darker features, black hair, and violet eyes.  (Okay, I know the latter would have to be faked.)  But while a dead ringer for the classic Aquaman is playing his sidekick, the live-action Aquaman, Jason Momoa, actually looks NOTHING like the comic book Aquaman.

In the comics, Garth eventually gained additional magical powers and adopted the “grown-up” name Tempest.

That character has become somewhat secondary with a newer Aqualad, Kaldur’ahm/Jackson Hyde gaining greater fame after being one of the main characters on the ‘Young Justice’ animated series.  But considering that Dick Grayson is still technically Robin, and Donna Troy is still technically Wonder Girl (neither seems happy to still be known by those monikers), it makes sense to bring in the Aqualad that is their peer.

Garth, Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash were the original Teen Titans, with Speedy joining shortly after they formed.  Kid Flash and Speedy are both characters on The CW’s Arrowverse, so it’s somewhat doubtful that they will be used on ‘Titans’, but at this point, they’re using other characters that have appeared on the Arrowverse, so who knows?

‘Titans’ stars Anna Diop as Koriand’r/Kory Anders/Starfire, Teagan Croft as Rachel Roth/Raven, Ryan Potter as Garfield Logan/Beast Boy, Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson/Robin, and Curran Walters, as Jason Todd/New Robin.  Recurring guest-stars include Seamus Dever as Trigon, Minka Kelly as Dawn Granger/Dove, Conor Leslie as Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, and Alan Ritchson as Hank Hall/Hawk.

Also joining for Season 2 are Iain Glenn as Bruce Wayne, Natalie Gumede as Mercy Graves, Esai Morales as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, Chella Man as Joseph Wilson/Jericho, Joshua Orpin as Superboy, and Chelsea T. Zhang as Rose Wilson/Ravager.  (And Krypto.)

What do you think of Drew Van Acker playing Aqualad?