While he hasn't posted much in a few months Vampire Diaries star Steven R. McQueen has posted yet another photo teasing his possible role as Nightwing on a show - presumably TNT's Titans/Blackbirds - on his Instagram.
For those who aren't familar with the story [stories] McQueen has teased numerous times that he would or could potentially be playing Nightwing in a live action incarnation of the character. Over a year ago he began to tease fans with a tweet to the writing staff of the CW's hit show Arrow.
It is quite rare that you come across a young, relevant, and talented - relatively -actor who wants to play the CBM role he is fit for in many fans minds. To date, I can only name two...Channing Tatum...who strode for the role of Gambit and has fully embraced his new role (looking forward to what he can do on the big screen as Gambit), and Vampire Diaries actor, Steven R. McQueen. However, unlike Tatum, who did garner confrontation when he was cast/wanted the role, McQueen seems to garner signifigantly less negative attention when it comes to playing Nightwing.
As aforementioned McQueen riled fans up a little over a year ago ago when he tweeted his friend from Everwood, Greg Berlanti, who currently writes and produces the CW's Arrow and The Flash. The tweet in question featured McQueen working out in the gym wearing a Nightwing shirt with the #Nightwing. He later posted more tweets and instagram photos with the same hashtag leading fans to believe he was playing the role. After this, many fans took a liking to the idea and hoped to no end that he would be cast in the role to appear on the CW's Arrow...after further teasing McQueen eventually revealed that, although Nightwing IS his favorite character, he was not up for the role on Arrow as it did not exist, and that he had just run with the support in the hopes that if the oppurtunity did he would be able to grab it by the horns.
Soon after (maybe a little before) it was announced that TNT would be producing a pilot for a a show entitled "
Titans" (now named
Blackbirds) that would follow the older Teen Titans and their exploits...originally it was just a whim that this show would be linekd to the self entitled "Arrowverse" but recent evidence has been garnering support for the merged universe.
With this backlash, came the fall of the #Nightwing from McQueen...that was...until recently. After news broke that TNT would be making a Titans show starring Nightwing, and after the Flash premiered...the #Nightwing returned.
McQueen even visited the circus and used the #Nightwing, something fans of the character will definitely understand as a nod to Dick Grayson's crimefighting origins. People have gone as far as to speculate that these photos hint at some high intensity circus training for said role.
Clearly McQueen has the so called "superhero build", but his likness to Dick Grayson, especially at the point in his career as Nightwing, is uncanny as well (compared to MANY different artists renditions of the character, as opposed to just one or two). McQueen stands at 6'0 and is 26 years old, however he does play a college freshman on The Vampire Diaries this season, so his actable age range is seems to fit well at about 19-26, the appropriate age range for TNT's Nightwing.
To summarize, McQueen is one of the more popular choices, but one I have to agree with, not only does McQueen want to play Nightwing as much as Channing Tatum wanted to play Gambit, but in this case McQueen seems to already be Nightwing. His looks are ideal compared to those of an older Dick Grayson, he is 6'0", enough to assert a dominant presence seeing that he has no powers, and he is pretty big. On top of all of this, we know McQueen can pull off the Dick Grayson attitude seeing as, to some degree, it is who he is in real life (watch interviews etc.) but also to that same degree, it is his character Jeremy Gilbert from
The Vampire Diaries.