Maze Runner: The Death Cure actor Dexter Darden, who plays apocalypse survivor Frypan for the third time, says Maze Runner leading man Dylan O’Brien should play Batman’s former protégé Dick Grayson, a.k.a. the fly-solo Nightwing.
“He would be so good,” Darden told CinemaBlend.
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“So what happens is, Batman ages out unfortunately, in Gotham, and Robin just kind of grows up and just has the same resources, but a little bit more of a badass kind of edge to him,” Darden explained of the sidekick-turned-superhero, who left Gotham and the Robin identity behind in favor of taking up a role as the protector of nearby city Blüdhaven.
“Nightwing is essentially a 25- to like 30-year-old Robin, and he’s got this sick blue one-piece outfit. Blue, black, and he’s dope,” Darden said.
The now 26-year-old O’Brien was considered for the second Spider-Man reboot back in 2015, after Sony walked away from the Amazing Spider-Man franchise in favor of a partnership bringing the teenage superhero into the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Holland ultimately won the role.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star Nick Jonas, who has been named by fans as a candidate for the Nightwing role, told ComicBook.com he’s “down” to play Nightwing, saying it would be “awesome” to play one of Batman’s most trusted allies.
“I’d be super down for this,” Jonas said.
“I didn’t know there was people vying for me to play this role but keep the chatter alive, people! If you vote for me, maybe they’ll cast me in it! And then, I don’t know, I’ll thank you all later.”
Online fans have expressed a desire for Lion star Dev Patel to tackle the role. Another fan-favorite candidate, American Horror Story actor Finn Wittrock, was rumored to be attached to the role in September.
Power Rangers and Stranger Things 2 star Dacre Montgomery fueled speculation he was involved with the upcoming Warner Bros. production in November after posting a picture of Nightwing, sans caption, to his Twitter and Instagram pages. The posts were deleted by the actor soon after.
Nightwing director Chris McKay expects more concrete information about the film to surface in February, which could see a long-awaited casting announcement.
O’Brien, a noted anime fan, recently told ComicBook.com he’s interested in playing Goku in a live-action Dragon Ball movie.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure opens January 26.
