Titans star Brenton Thwaites previews Dick’s new leadership approach: ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’

Titans season 4 will see the Titans facing a threat unlike any they’ve faced before which will lead Dick Grayson’s leadership style shifting dramatically.

Across the first three seasons of Titans, Dick Grayson and the Titans have faced off against a number of threats but this season’s supernatural threat is about to challenge the team in a way they’ve never been challenged before.

New villains Brother Blood and Mother Mayhem pose a challenge that is unlike anything the Titans have seen before which will lead them to have to change the way in which they approach taking on this season’s Big Bads.

The entire team will have to change their approach to doing battle with Brother Blood and Mother Mayhem, including the team’s leader Dick Grayson, who audiences can expect to shake up his leadership approach in season 4 by finally realizing it’s not a bad thing to lean on the team around him. 

Brenton Thwaites on what’s next for Nightwing in Titans season 4

Speaking with reporters at New York Comic Con ahead of Titans season 4 premiere on Nov. 3, Nightwing star Brenton Thwaites revealed that while Dick is feeling good at the beginning of the season and learned a lot as a leader during the team’s battle against Crane, season 4 will challenge Dick in new ways.

"“At the beginning of season four, he feels good. He’s just defeated Crane in Gotham City. The Titans are working really well together. I feel like in season three [Dick] went through a period of time where he was struggling with being the leader, he was struggling with his moral center and how he wanted to ethically fight crime, and lead these younger superheroes into being their best selves. Crane was obviously a big, psychological villain, and figuring out how to outsmart him was kind of the seasonal arc as opposed to season two where Deathstrike was more of a physical villain, and them battling in hand-to-hand combat was the drama,” Thwaites previewed of where fans can expect Dick to be mentally as the season begins.“This season, the Titans are facing more of a supernatural villain, so it delves into elements of power and the occult, dark magic, and all kinds of weird shit that Dick Grayson hasn’t ever encountered before. So he has to rely upon another set of skills and reach out to friends of his that he’s met in the past,” he added."

As Dick and the Titans prepare to go to battle with this unfamiliar threat, it forces Dick to change his approach to leading the team by relying on those around him rather than going off alone and shouldering the full workload alone. By taking on more of a managerial role, Thwaites previewed that Dick finally accepts that the smartest thing he can do is delegate and lean on his team for support.

"“Dick Grayson is not someone who knows a lot about the supernatural, so he has to delegate. He has to go out and find people that know more about the supernatural and how to defeat the supernatural villain. People who can tell him who he’s going up against,” Thwaites revealed.“So this year, it’s more of a managerial role of Dick trying to figure out who best to direct into certain circumstances as opposed to seasons one and two where he would go out alone, or fight these battles alone. He has a team around him. He knows the smartest thing to do is to delegate, to work together. Teamwork makes the dream work. And he tries to do that this season.”"

Still, that doesn’t mean there won’t still be some hesitation by Dick to use certain members or put them in potentially dangerous situations, namely the team’s newest addition Tim Drake. Looking to learn from the mistakes of his past, Dick will take a different approach and look to learn from how things went with Jason Todd.

"“That’s definitely on his mind, you know, trying not to let him be misled or taken advantage of or, you know, be directly down a path that he can’t come back from. The way to remedy that is Dick Grayson doesn’t let him into the field of action too soon.  He’s trying to hold him back until he’s ready, and that frustrates to Tim. He’s a kid, he feels ready and wants to be involved in the Titans,” Thwaites hinted of what’s to come.“One comes before the other, we need Tim before Dick feels like he would essentially be ready. So he sends him on his last assignment and basically, Tim returns as a Titan who’s ready to come back, Dick can trust him and they form basically a trust and a relationship from there.”"

Be sure to hit play on the video below for more Titans season 4 teasers from Brenton Thwaites and to find out the one aspect of Nightwing’s comic book persona he confesses the show hasn’t delivered on as much as it should.

Titans season 4 premieres Thursday, Nov. 3 on HBO Max with a special two-episode premiere event with new episodes releasing weekly every Thursday.

Are you excited to see Dick’s leadership style evolving in season 4 and to know that he’ll look to delegate a bit more in using the strengths of his team?