The CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths was a surprisingly star-studded crossover event, though we already know that some big names declined to appear. Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum, for example, refused to return as Lex Luthor without seeing a script first, and in terms of financial compensation, it sounds like the network wasn't willing to offer what the actor understandably felt his time was worth.
Titans star Brenton Thwaites also decided against being part of Crisis, and while the team did appear (seemingly through recycled footage from the HBO Max series), the actor had a good reason for turning The CW down. He elaborated during a recent interview with The Cosmic Circus.
"It’s a different deal thing, right? If you crossover to a different show, they treat it like a different job, and you know you gotta fly to that place, although the studio and whoever’s in charge will make it work, I feel like...you know, you get a choice, right?" the actor explains. "You get a choice to read the script, to study the project and, you know, to be a part of what you want to be a part of."
"It was just not something that I wanted to do at the time," Thwaites continued. "I mean, whether I believed that it should cross over or not, it’s not really beside the point, I just think that Titans is such a unique show, the way it looks, the way it feels, the characters, and I kind of...I don’t know, I selfishly want to preserve, you know, the uniqueness of that."
Reading between the lines, it doesn't sound like the Titans star was keen to put a CW spin on the show that, tonally, is quite a bit different to the likes of The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.
Titans isn't exactly high art, though, and Thwaites may have robbed himself of the chance to show his Nightwing off to a huge new audience. The CW recently pulled the plug on Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow, something many believe is an indication that the network is paring down its DC offerings as Warner Bros. looks to put a greater focus on the shows it has streaming exclusively on HBO Max.
Titans season 4 is expected to premiere later this year.