Navia Robinson plays Carrie Kelley, a.k.a. Batman’s sidekick, in CW’s latest DC superhero series, Gotham Knights. Best known for her roles in Disney’s Raven’s Home and Free Rein, the Emmy nominee was a huge fan of DC comics and the Gotham universe prior to booking her iconic role.
J-14 sat down with Navia where she exclusively told us about how she interpreted her character, growing up as a DC fan and which character dynamic she’s most excited for fans to see in Gotham Knights.
On Navia Robinson’s ‘Gotham Knights’ Character
Gotham Knights follows the events that take place after Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, is murdered and his adopted son takes over to forge an alliance with the children of Batman’s enemies. As Gotham City becomes more dangerous after Batman’s death, these fugitives come together to become its next generation of saviors, known as the Gotham Knights.
Navia, 17, plays the role of Carrie Kelley, a character who has had multiple renditions over the years, first showing up in DC comics in 1986 with The Dark Knight Returns. In the DCU and the CW series, Carrie is known as Batman’s teenaged side kick, Robin.
The Raven’s Home actress tells J-14 that she made sure to consume all of the other interpretations of Carrie Kelley, in order to figure out the “line” between them.
“They’re all drastically different, but I think there’s this commonality that I picked up on after seeing a few of this balance between like naivety and wisdom,” she explains, “because she is 15 and has a lot to learn and she still has a certain timidity around these older teenagers, but also she’s very wise, specifically as Robin, and she’s very capable and she’s, you know, been taught by Batman.”
Navia Robinson Is Most Excited for *This* Relationship ‘Dynamic’
“My favorite thing about Carrie’s entire character and arc is her struggling to reconcile what exactly good and bad is and how they often intersect,” Navia tells us. “And very often the line between the two are, it’s much blurrier than she thinks. So she discovers that throughout the season, there are certain characters and dynamics that help her go through that learning curve.”
Navia is most excited for one specific relationship between her character and another: Olivia Rose Keegan‘s Duela Dent.
“Specifically, I think of Carrie and Duela’s dynamic, and I think that one excites me the most,” Navia says, before gushing over her “amazing actress and friend.”
“[Olivia’s] described Duela as like, a human being’s wildest instincts, coming to life,” she continued. “And I think in contrast, Carrie is probably humans most optimistic and charitable or virtuous instincts coming to life. So I think the two of them contrasting has been a fun part of playing Carrie, for sure.”
Navia Robinson Was a Huge DC Fan Before ‘Gotham Knights’
Prior to booking her role as Carrie Kelley, Navia revealed that she “grew up” with DC animated series, explaining that she has “12 covers” of DC comics in her room at the time of publication.
“Yeah, I was definitely a fan,” she assured. “I’m actually sitting in my room right now and the wall in front of me is covered with 12 covers of detective comics. They’re like replicas. So I was a fan, I had these on my wall like a year and a half prior to even hearing about this audition.”
The young actress explained that she was “aware of the Dark Knight Rises comics,” which is where Carrie Kelley’s character derives from, and “some of the source material. “
“So there was some learning to be done,” Navia assured. “But I feel like I had a lot of background knowledge about tone and stuff like that.”
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