Nightwing casting will reach “far & wide”; Production could begin next year

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

After the Justice League assembles in a little over a week, most members will be headed to their own solo movies down the road, like AQUAMAN, WONDER WOMAN 2, THE BATMAN and FLASHPOINT. Sprinkled in there will be some fresh faces, including the Zachary Levi-led SHAZAM! as well as a NIGHTWING movie. The director of latter, Chris McKay, knows how anxious we all are to hear who will be playing the young Batman protégé, but he recently came out and said we won’t know who it is for some time, and chances are, we may not immediately recognize them.

McKay took to Twitter today to comment on the nature of casting the lead role, saying the casting process has yet to begin, and when it does, they won’t be looking at only big-name stars:

We haven’t started the process of casting NIGHTWING yet but when we do you’ll hear something because our search will be far and wide

— Chris McKay (@buddboetticher) November 5, 2017

I hope you have lots of Kleenex

— Chris McKay (@buddboetticher) November 5, 2017

Unlike with SHAZAM! there aren’t really any names floating out there as to who the studio may be looking to cast. This is probably because McKay wants to leave the door open for an unknown to come in and surprise everyone. We here at JoBlo compiled our own Cast This list for NIGHTWING, with names like Richard Madden and Daniel Radcliffe thrown in. But if all goes well we could know sooner rather than later, as McKay is confident production could start early next year.

Yes I think it can provided the script is crazy great

— Chris McKay (@buddboetticher) November 5, 2017

The fans have their own dream list of actors to take on the role, with names like Dave Franco popping up here and there. But given how wide a net Warner Bros. is casting it could really be anyone at this point. Given how old Batman is in this world the person who they get to play Nightwing may have to be at least in their late-twenties, early-thirties. I'm sure they'll get a ton of actors reading for the role, but if I put my money down, I'd say expect them to cast someone with a good amount of experience and relative name recognition, like with Alden Ehrenreich for SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY. No one's going to see a Nightwing movie starring some dude named, I don't know, Gary Samson. If you are a real person, Gary Samson, I'm sorry, but the truth hurts. 

JUSTICE LEAGUE arrives November 17.