Casting rumours often take on a life of their own, and in some cases, the furore and excitement surrounding the reports actually lead somewhere. You need only look at Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool or John Krasinski as Mister Fantastic for proof, but someone who didn't appreciate being at the centre of all that speculation is Maze Runner star Dylan O'Brien.
For years, we heard rumblings online that he was being eyed to play Dick Grayson/Nightwing in the DC Extended Universe, and the actor has been asked about the possibility on multiple occasions.
However, enough was enough when Screen Rant spoke to O'Brien about his new movie, Not Okay.
"No, no, never, never [any truth to the Nightwing rumors]," he stated. "I’m glad that time has passed and people can see that I was telling the truth. There was so much doubt and speculation and theories and all just from, I don’t even know who originally put...I think that they just post sh*t. They have no source. It doesn’t come from anything. It’s crazy actually to see it catch fire."
"That’s not really fair, is it? It is [like the message of Not Okay]," O'Brien continued. "Yeah. I mean, it was like an account that has a following. It’s somewhat of a credible source and they’re just making sh*t up. That’s interesting, isn’t it?"
The actor has spent nearly a decade making it clear that superhero movies don't interest him, so we're not surprised he's sick and tired of hearing about this role. O'Brien would have been a good fit for the hero, but even when it looked like a Nightwing movie was happening (from The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay), it seemingly never got close to casting an actor as the former Robin.
Since then, Brenton Thwaites has suited up as Dick Grayson in Titans, and it doesn't appear as if Nightwing will be spotlighted in any other movies or TV shows beyond the upcoming third season of the animated Harley Quinn series.
Do you think O'Brien would have made a good Nightwing in the DCEU?