Savannah Rose Welch Is Titans’ Barbara Gordon!
Every time I want to get out, Titans pulls me back in.
We now have a Barbara Gordon on HBO Max’s Titans. Actress Savannah Welch, will play the iconic caped crusader in the upcoming third season of the DC TV show.
Welch is probably best known for her role in the History Channel military drama Six as a Marine who suffered an amputation in combat. As Variety reports, Welch herself is an amputee and lost one of her legs after an accident in 2016. Since then, she has become a spokesperson for the disability community.
It is amazing that Titans has now had two members of the disability community as part of its regular cast, and I think that this bit of casting, and the videos we’ve seen of Welch training, only serve to prove that the idea that casting actors with disabilities is not possible is bullshit.
“I always dreamed of getting to do stunt work when I had both legs…but in 15+ years of acting, I never had the chance to…until now,” the actress wrote on Instagram.
“Turns out, “able-body” is a term we can redefine as we see fit. This was a first today & I went in having no idea what was in store for me. I’m not sharing it to demonstrate some badassery nonsense…quite the opposite, rather. Here’s an awkward little snippet of an unimpressive maneuver…with the imperfections of a learning curve, bent wrists & wrong twists…by a girl who thought that ship had sailed in surgery…in case it gives someone the nudge they need to stretch their perceived limitations…self-imposed or otherwise.”
Titans has not historically been great at expanding the core cast while maintaining good arcs for those characters. With Blackfire coming, the left over issues with Donna and Raven, Beast Boy, and Jason Todd to name a few, I’m nervous about how Barbara will be introduced in a way that delivers. That being said …
Sigh.
I’m excited.
I know that there is so much stuff about Marvel and MCU bias, but I can honestly say that as fun and enjoyable as WandaVision is, it didn’t fill me with as much nerdy glee as hearing about this casting. I’m hard on DC because I love DC. That is where I have my investment and my hot takes that have been simmering since I first picked up a Superman comic.
Titans will probably never be the show that I want it to be in terms of writing, but with a few exceptions, the cast has made me invested in seeing their faces on screen. Now, with a chance to see Barbara onscreen in live action for only the fourth time ever (following the ’60s show, Batman and Robin, and the Birds of Prey television show). Plus played by someone who can deliver some much needed representation for actors with disabilitys into the genre and is getting their coin playing a major character in the canon?
That’s awesome, and I can’t wait.
(via Variety, image: Dc Comics)
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