Deadline has word that the upcoming DC Comics digital series Titans has cast Anna Diop as Koriand'r, better known to DC Comics fans as the alien superhero Starfire.
According to the article, Starfire is described as "an alien princess from a warrior planet who seeks asylum on Earth. A no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners stranger on our world, she has the ability to shoot energy bolts and fly. Searching for her place on Earth, she’ll come into contact with the Titans."
Diop is probably best known as Nicole Carter on the Fox series 24: Legacy. Her other television appearances include episodes of Quantico, Greenleaf, Southland, Whitney, and Everybody Hates Chris.
Written by Akiva Goldsman, DC Entertainment’s Geoff Johns and Greg Berlanti, Titans follows a group of young soon-to-be superheroes recruited from every corner of the DC Universe. In the action-adventure series, Dick Grayson emerges from the shadows to become the leader of a fearless band of new heroes that includes Starfire, Raven and others.
Created in 1980 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Starfire first appeared in DC Comics Presents #26 as Koriand'r, a princess of the planet Tamaran in the Vegan system, and was in line to rule the planet as Queen. Komand'r, also known as Blackfire, her older sister, developed a bitter rivalry with her after suffering a disease in infancy that robbed her of the ability to harness solar energy to allow her to fly, and by extension, her right to the throne. Their rivalry continued and intensified when the siblings were sent for warrior training with the Warlords of Okaara. Things came to a head during a sparring exercise in which Komand'r attempted to kill her sister. As a result, Komand'r was expelled and she swore vengeance.That revenge came in a plot where Komand'r betrayed her planet by supplying detailed information about Tamaran's defenses to their enemies, the Citadel. They conquered Tamaran with ease, and the surrender conditions included the enslavement of Koriand'r, who was never permitted to return, since that would mean the Citadel would devastate the planet for abrogating the treaty. To her horror, Koriand'r learned that Komand'r was her master, and she made the most of her sibling's years of horrific servitude. When Koriand'r killed one of her captors, Komand'r decided to execute her as punishment, but the sisters were attacked and captured by the Psions, a group of sadistic alien scientists. While performing deadly experiments on the sisters, the Psion were attacked by Komand'r's forces. Koriand'r broke free using her newly developed starbolts, destructive blasts of ultraviolet energy which were a result of the experiment. She freed Komand'r, who was still absorbing more amounts of ultraviolet energy. Far from grateful, Komand'r struck her sister with the same, but more intense, power and had her restrained for later execution.
Koriand'r escaped by stealing a spacecraft to flee to the nearest planet, Earth, where she met the first Robin and other teen superheroes, soon joining them in forming the Teen Titans. She became a charter member of this team and remained a member for years, finding work as a professional model using the name Kory Anders.
Titans will presumably debut on DC's digital service sometime in 2018.