Aladdin Star Mena Massoud Wants To Play DC's Nightwing, Addresses Star Wars Rumors
"Aladdin" star Mena Massoud already has a billion dollar hit under his belt (and he'll almost certainly be back for the sequel), but he's currently gunning for a couple of other high profile roles. In a new interview, he talks about wanting to star in a DC project as Nightwing, also known as Dick Grayson, an adult version of Robin who has become a fan-favorite character over the past few decades. Not only that, but he also wants to enter the "Star Wars" universe playing a live-action version of "Star Wars Rebels" character Ezra Bridger. There have been rumors swirling about Massoud as Bridger for months, and now he's addressed those directly.
A Character I've Always Been Drawn To
It's rare to see an adult version of Dick Grayson in DC projects: Chris O'Donnell played him in "Batman & Robin," and Brenton Thwaites plays him in the television series "Titans." Now Massoud is angling to play the part in the DCEU, whether in the studio's planned "Nightwing" movie that's currently in development or potentially in one of the many projects DC is developing specifically for HBO Max.
"I really would love to play a superhero in the DC or Marvel universe," Massoud told ScreenRant. "I think it's important to put things out there in the universe that you want to do and just really work really hard and smart towards them and ... see what happens." Specifically, though, he has his eye on the role of Nightwing:
"I've been obsessed with Batman, but I think Batman's kind of ... it's been done a lot now and it's been done by some fantastic actors. I don't think I can top them in that way, but Nightwing just has a really interesting story [that] hasn't been done before, he's a little bit younger. So yeah, he's a character I've just always been drawn to."
About Those Star Wars Rumors...
Massoud also wants to head to a galaxy far, far away. For months, he's been rumored to play Ezra Bridger, the Jedi who disappears at the end of "Star Wars Rebels," leading Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren on a quest to track him down. "The Mandalorian" has incorporated elements from "Rebels" into live-action already, and with an "Ahsoka" show in the works, there's been lots of talk about how it would make sense for Ezra to appear.
When the actor quoted the Ezra character in a social media post in March, the speculation ramped into overdrive. Speaking with ScreenRant, Massoud explained that he was "manifesting" his desire to play the role, hearkening back to his quote about how he thinks it's important to put things out into the universe and work hard to achieve those goals:
"Just manifesting, just manifesting, trying different things. Yeah, there's not much more I can say about that, but, you know, I had heard murmurings that this role was coming up and this is becoming a real thing. So I just kinda wanted to throw my name in the ring and – yeah, just part of manifesting what you want ... it would be a dream come true. Obviously, I've already had one of my dreams come true with Aladdin, but I also think I could just really do it justice. I've worked on that kind of big, massive set before on Aladdin. I think I have that under my belt now and thankfully the film did really well, so I think I've proven that I can be successful in that environment. I think it would just be a great opportunity to take everything that I learned on a set like Aladdin and implement it into the Star Wars or DC or Marvel universe. We're talking about manifesting, so yeah, it would mean a lot, it would mean a lot. I think I would also do a solid job and work really hard. I like what they're doing with that world and how they're expanding the universe."
"Aladdin" has several significant flaws, but Massoud is not one of them. He was perfectly cast in that movie, and I would love to see him ultimately play both Nightwing and Ezra Bridger. The biggest problem he might run into at that point is the over-saturation that can sometimes happen when certain actors start popping up in too many high profile projects in a short period of time, but he seems like he'd be able to weather that particular storm well. There are still plenty of other variables in these equations, but I want to see more from him and wish him the best of luck locking down these roles.