Warning: SPOILERS for the Titans episode “Project Starfire” are ahead!
Although Jay Lycurgo’s version of Tim Drake has been part of Titans since Season 3, going into Season 4, it was unclear if he would follow in his comic book counterpart’s and become a full-fledged superhero. Then in late March, it was officially announced that Lycurgo’s Tim would indeed become the new Robin, and a few weeks later, showrunner Greg Walker talked about the big way Tim stands out from his predecessors, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, as the Boy Wonder. Tim’s Robin debut finally happened in today’s episode, “Project Starfire,” and ahead of it premiering to HBO Max subscribers, Lycurgo talked with CinemaBlend about his character’s mini-team-up with Curran Walters’ Jason, as well as training with a bo staff all season long.
The latest Titans episode saw Brenton Thwaites’ Dick not only sending Tim to Gotham City to find a source who could provide information on Mother Mayhem, but also giving him a Robin suit for the mission. However, there’s more to being a superhero than wearing a costume, but luckily for Tim, upon getting into a fight with some hoods back in his hometown, Jason Todd, a.k.a. Red Hood, arrived to bail him out. It soon became clear that Tim hadn’t truly been sent back to Gotham to find this source, but rather go through his next round of Robin training, now with Jason instructing him. When I asked Jay Lycurgo what it was like getting to work with Curran Walters on this sequence, he answered:
So fun! Because I knew that Curran was only going to come back for one or two episodes. Because the thing is, what would happen with us is that we’d be filming all the time for eight months, and we would be on autopilot really. And we always knew that by the end of the second episode in one block, there’s two episodes in one block, by the end of the second episode, you’re going to get the scripts for the next block, so the next two episodes. So when I saw Tim and Jason together, I thought, ‘Oh my God!’ It was just really exciting, and I just remember text Curran straight away going, ‘You know, we’re doing scenes together, man! Episode 11 is with us.’ It really is that passing of the torch moment, isn’t it? When they first get to meet after Robin’s epic first fight in the alley. And I just love that they get to have that moment together.
Tim Drake and Jason Todd briefly met in Season 3 after the former was fatally shot by the latter’s then-boss/partner, Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. The Scarecrow. Fortunately, Tim was able to make it back to the land of the living with Donna Troy, and by the end of that season, Tim had officially been recruited into the Titans. Now with Jason Todd’s help, he’s ready to properly fight the forces of evil as Robin, with Jason telling Dick on the phone that Tim will “be a better Robin than me.”
Of course, it’s not like Tim Drake didn’t already have a little combat training under his belt before his time spent with Jason Todd. Throughout Titans Season 4, viewers have watched him learn to use a bo staff, and I was curious about how it was for Jay Lycurgo handling Tim’s signature weapon from the comics. He enthusiastically reflected on the experience, starting with the following:
Adam, I love that you asked that question because that bo staff became my baby, honestly. At the beginning, it was a very intimidating task just because with everything, when you’re thrown something at you… like a bo staff, I just knew what I had to get with Robin, how incredible he’s got to be. I remember it was Mustafa, it was the whole Titans stunt team, and they showed me the bo staff on that first day, just the base moves. And I was, ‘How am I gonna do this?’ But I gotta give a shout-out to my stunt double George as well, because he is so incredible at his job and what he does. So for example, when I was doing the scene with Dick and Tim fighting the ninjas in Episode 1, I honestly still didn’t know how to use that damn thing. I didn’t know how to use the bo staff.
While Lycurgo won’t be going out at night to fight criminals dressed in a red, green, yellow and black costume, he nonetheless needed to learn how to use a bo staff properly if he was going to convincingly show Tim handling it. So the actor figuring out how to wield it lined up nicely with Tim needing to do the same thing, and he spent as much of his free time as possible perfecting his technique. He continued:
So I would be, in-between takes, going to George being like, ‘I’ve gotta get this down.’ I knew I had eight months, so it was just really that. Every time I wasn’t onscreen or wasn’t having fun with the cast in-between takes, I was on that bo staff just trying to make sure it was perfect, working on the moves. And me and George would just get at it, and then I would go to the stunt team as well, and I’d just make sure I did extra shifts with it. And then throughout the season… me and Tim, we were together on it. By the time it gets to those last episodes, I knew I was ready to be Robin, to use the bo staff as it should be. But I had so much fun with it. I don’t have a bo staff now, but I enjoyed every moment, just being in my apartment… It’s quite meditative as well.
Tim Drake becoming Robin comes just as Titans ends with its fourth season, which was announced in January. So we’ll only see him active as Robin for a total of two episodes since next week will deliver the series finale, but hey, better late than never! And should the day come that Lycurgo ends up playing a character who also needs to be proficient with a bo staff, he can dust those skills off.
Titans will wrap up on HBO Max next Thursday. While you wait for the final episode, check out some of our other recent coverage for the series, like Beast Boy actor Ryan Potter talking about putting together the big DC multiverse sequence from two episodes back, or Superboy actor Joshua Orpin discussing the “fun” of giving his character Lex Luthor vibes.
