Alan Ritchson’s Canceled 49-Episode Action Series Has An Even Better Spinoff

Published Oct 20, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT

After 18 months at Screen Rant, Guy became Classic TV Editor in September 2026, and specializes in leading features content about shows from decades gone by. Having written for and editing several TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include comedy, crime, historical drama, Westerns, and political thrillers.

Now the undisputed king of television’s action genre, it’s hard to believe that Alan Ritchson would ever have been part of an action series that was canceled before its time. But that’s exactly what happened as recently as 2023, when Warner Bros. pulled the plug on the show that gave Ritchson a second go at playing a superhero.

His previous tenure as Aquaman on The CW’s series Smallville had consisted of just four episodes, but Titans gave him three whole seasons as Hank Hall, otherwise known as the Hawk. This DC Comics adaptation remains one of Ritchson’s best TV shows alongside Reacher, and the Hawk’s physical characteristics certainly play to his strengths.

However, it must be said that Titans can take itself a little too seriously. By contrast, the show’s spinoff Doom Patrol embraces the absurd in a way that’s distinctly refreshing for a DC Universe screen adaptation. It’s fundamentally a series about its characters more than their superpowers, which are instead the basis for surrealist, darkly comic turns into uncharted territory for live-action television.

An ingenious superhero show that often isn’t the easiest to understand, Doom Patrol is nonetheless a brilliantly original twist on the genre, which James Gunn enjoyed watching. We can’t say the same for Titans, in truth, which makes for an entertaining but fairly rudimentary addition to the DC oeuvre that clearly takes its lead from Zack Snyder.

Alan Ritchson’s Titans Was Canceled After 4 Seasons

Even if it doesn’t stand out from other DC releases the way Doom Patrol does, Titans still wasn’t shown enough respect by Warner Bros. when it was unceremoniously brought to an end after four seasons, due to new budget restrictions resulting from the studio’s merger with Discovery. Alan Ritchson got to have his own sendoff, when the Hawk departed the show at the end of season 3.

But the likes of Red Hood, Dove, Wonder Girl were left with unresolved or deeply unsatisfactory conclusions to their character arcs, in what appeared to be a rushed finale. It’s safe to say that Titans didn’t end the way many fans would have wanted it to, yet the show deserves more credit than it’s generally given overall.

Its heavy, psychologically loaded approach to expanding the Teen Titans comic-book lore is to be commended, and it pulls no punches in terms of all-out action. The series leans into a neo-noir aesthetic that perfectly suits the brooding screen presence of stars like Ritchson, Brenton Thwaites, and Teagan Croft.

In a decades time, Titans may well have earned itself a cult following as a DC TV show that never truly set the world alight, but doesn’t deserve to be forgotten, either. What’s more, the Hawk will struggle to find an actor more suited to his superstrong, superfast, and completely impenetrable exterior than the one who’s transformed Jack Reacher into a colossal physical specimen.

Doom Patrol Is A Far Better DC Show Than Titans

If Titans is a show worth remembering, then Doom Patrol is quite simply one of HBO Max’s best sci-fi series, let alone DC superhero adaptations. Introduced via the fourth episode of its parent show, which served as a backdoor pilot of sorts, this unique small-screen creation soon developed a world all of its own.

Titans Seasons	Rotten Tomatoes Score	Doom Patrol Seasons	Rotten Tomatoes Score
Season 1	78%	Season 1	96%
Season 2	81%	Season 2	97%
Season 3	100%	Season 3	100%
Season 4	100%	Season 4	100%

Doom Patrol blends knowing meta-comedy with absurd toilet humor, surreal anthropomorphic animals, and utterly off-the-wall heroes and villains. If Titans is well cast, then its spinoff’s casting of Alan Tudyk, April Bowlby, Matt Bomer, and Brendan Fraser, among other unlikely choices, is sheer genius.

Between the two series, Doom Patrol wins every time. Nevertheless Titans also deserves more of the spotlight than it gets outside the most devoted DC Universe circles.

• 

  Titans

  

  5/10

  Release Date

  2018 - 2023-00-00

  Network

  DC Universe, HBO Max

  • 

    Evan Jones

    Len Armstrong

  • 

    Mayko Nguyen

    Adeline

  This gritty take on the "Teen Titans" franchise follows young heroes from across the DC Universe as they come of age. Dick Grayson (aka Nightwing) and Rachel Roth, a special girl possessed by a strange darkness, get involved in a conspiracy that could bring Hell on Earth. 

• 

  Doom Patrol

  8/10

  Release Date

  2019 - 2023-00-00

  Network

  DC Universe, HBO Max, Max

  • 

    Diane Guerrero

    Jane

  • 

    Rita Farr / Elasti-Woman

  Doom Patrol is an adaptation of one of DC’s most beloved and bizarre superhero groups. The series stars Brendan Fraser (Robotman/Cliff Steele), Matt Bomer (Negative Man/Larry Trainer), April Bowlby (Elasti-Woman/Rita Farr), Diane Guerrero (Crazy Jane), and Joivan Wade (Victor Stone/Cyborg). Even though the world doesn’t appreciate or accept them, the Doom Patrol protected the world for four seasons between 2019 and 2023.