DC's Titans: Why was season one only 11 episodes long?

Writer/producer Greg Walker revealed why DC Universe’s Titans concluded prematurely last week and which characters who may or may not appear on the show.

After several months of hype and conjecture, the debut season of the first original show on DC’s new streaming platform has come to an end. DC Universe’s Titans received mixed reviews when it premiered in October but steadily improved over its first season, concluding with a cliff-hanger during the 11th and final episode which aired on Friday.

Titans writer and producer Greg Walker revealed to IGN that 12 episodes were shot for the DC Universe show, but only 11 were released as the showrunners felt the denouement provided a good ‘hinge’ to start the next season.

"We got into that final episode, or what was the next episode, and started to really look at where we ended this episode and where we wanted to launch and how we really felt it to be a hinge point to do another season. [We] didn’t wanna have it stranded at the end of the season, but rather start the new season with it.’"

Walker also mentioned that another reason to end the show’s first season with the “Dick Grayson” episode was because it bookended Dick’s character arc for the season.

Brenton Thwaites’ Dick Grayson began Titans as a man desperate to leave his dark past and dark alter-ego, Robin, behind. Yet, the season ends with him being manipulated into embracing that side of himself by Trigon (Seamus Deaver). This was a power move by Trigon who was aware that Dick had become a father figure to Rachel Roth (Teagan Croft), Trigon’s biological daughter and the only person who can help the demon destroy the Earth. The showrunners were keen to kick off the second season with Dick and Rachel wrestling with accepting their inner darkness.

The season one finale didn’t follow through with many of the season’s story and plotlines, nor did it fulfil many of the predictions that had been circulating online even before the show debuted; Dick didn’t don his Nightwing mantle as per the comics, and other prominent characters from Dick’s life weren’t introduced, though they were mentioned in passing.

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One character name-drop that got plenty of fans excited was when Jason Todd (Curran Walters) talked about Barbara, who most viewers assumed to mean Barbara Gordon. In the comics, Babs (as she is referred to by Dick) is the superhero Batgirl and she has long been associated with him as a surrogate sister or romantic partner. Unfortunately, as per the IGN interview, Walker reiterated what executive producer Akiva Goldsman had revealed earlier this year about Batgirl being off-limits to Titans because of a possible DCEU film in development.

"He’s probably right. There are times when my partners go out on shopping sprees and see who they can bring back to me, and sometimes we get big yeses, and sometimes we get big nos. And I’m not privy to a lot of those conversations."

Even though Babs is out of bounds for Titans, fans were given a post-credits teaser of two other fan-favorite comic book characters joining the team in the second season. A silhouette of Conner Kent/ Kon-El, aka Superboy, was shown escaping a Cadmus laboratory in the finale with a super-powered dog, who can only be Krypto. Both characters will bring a new dynamic to the show.

Additionally, DC Universe also released the trailer for Doom Patrol, which will debut in February 2019. Walker explained that the long-time Titans member Victor Stone/ Cyborg (Joivan Wade) will be appearing on Doom Patrol instead of Titans because the showrunners wanted to focus on the emotional journeys of the four main characters – Dick, Rachel, Kory Anders (Anna Diop) and Garfield Logan (Ryan Potter). For now, it looks like there are no plans for Cyborg to move to Titans, but hopefully, the team roster will continue to expand and reflect the original source material over the course of the upcoming seasons.

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Titans is a much-loved team of superheroes, and fans will definitely be invested in discovering how Dick Grayson and the others break free of Trigon’s demonic shackles in the next season.

Are you excited for season 2 of Titans? Be sure to tell us in the comments below!

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