Draft:Batman: Caped Crusader

Batman: Caped Crusader is an upcoming American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series is developed by Bruce Timm, J. J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, and produced by Bad Robot Productions, 6th & Idaho Motion Picture Company, Warner Bros. Animation, and DC Studios. Timm and James Tucker serve as showrunners.

Hamish Linklater voices the title character, with Jamie Chung, Christina Ricci, and Diedrich Bader also starring. The series was announced in May 2021, with Reeves, Timm, and Abrams attached. The series draws inspiration from the noir film genre, and is intended to be a darker interpretation of the Batman mythos than Timm's Batman: The Animated Series (1992–95).

The first season of the series is scheduled to air on August 1, 2024, on Amazon Prime Video.

Voice cast
Additionally, Mckenna Grace, Paul Scheer, Reid Scott, Gary Anthony Williams, Dan Donohue, David Krumholtz, Haley Joel Osment, Toby Stephens, and Tom Kenny have been cast in undisclosed roles.
 * Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne / Batman
 * Jamie Chung as Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn
 * Christina Ricci as Selina Kyle / Catwoman
 * Diedrich Bader as Harvey Dent / Two-Face
 * Eric Morgan Stuart as James Gordon
 * Michelle C. Bonilla as Renee Montoya
 * Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon
 * Jason Watkins as Alfred Pennyworth
 * Bumper Robinson as Lucius Fox
 * Minnie Driver as Oswalda Cobblepot / Penguin
 * John DiMaggio as Harvey Bullock

Development
Warner Bros. Animation approached longtime DC producer Bruce Timm with the idea of producing a revival of Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995) set after the events of The New Batman Adventures (1997-1999), but Timm refused to develop a Batman show that was a continuation to The Animated Series. However, after a discussion with James Tucker regarding the offer, Timm recalled several ideas he had for The Animated Series that he was unable to do due to the target audience, particularly having a more "more of a pulp, serial, mystery, film noir" depiction of the character, inspiring him to develop a new series based on those ideas. Timm, who decided to work with Tucker on the new series, was later informed by Warner Bros. Animation that J.J. Abrams and The Batman (2022) director Matt Reeves were interested to work with him on a new show, afterwhich Timm pitched them his ideas for the new series, which impressed Reeves and Abrams, who decided to work on the series.

In May 2021, It was announced that a new Batman animated series developed by Reeves, Abrams, and Timm, titled Batman: Caped Crusader, would premiere on Cartoon Network and HBO Max. Timm and Tucker serve as showrunners on the series, with the first season consisting of ten episodes. In January 2022, comic book author Ed Brubaker has been announced to be serving as head writer and executive producer for the series; Brudbaker agreed to work on the series due to his love for Batman: The Animated Series, and originally approached Timm to work on the show as a freelance writer, thinking the writer's room was already hired. Timm instead hired him as head writer. Additional executive producers include Tucker, Daniel Pipski, Rachel Rusch Rich and Sam Register.

In August 2022, it was reported that the series would no longer be moving forward on HBO Max as part of the service's original programming, but would continue production while being shopped to another network, with Apple TV+, Hulu, and Netflix reportedly interested in the series. In September 2022, the series officially began being shopped around to networks with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+ being the big contenders. In March 2023, it was announced that Amazon would serve as the new distributor of the series and had renewed it for a second season. Brudbaker was unable to return for season 2 due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike and scheduling issues.

Writing
In addition to Brubaker, writers for the series include Greg Rucka, Marc Bernardin, Halley Gross, Jase Ricci, Adamma Ebo and Adanne Ebo, with Sean Lee serving as a writers assistant. Rucka wrote the series' second episode. In June 2024, J. M. DeMatteis revealed he had written an episode for the show's second season. Reeves, Abrams, and Timm described the series as "continuing the Batman mythology" with Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios president Sam Register saying it will follow the "groundbreaking legacy" of Timm's Batman: The Animated Series, aiming to re-shape the audience perception of the Batman mythologies in a similar vein to The Animated Series. All the executive producers called the series would be "thrilling, cinematic and evocative of Batman's noir roots while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters".

The series is a period piece set in the 1940s, which was decided by the producers as a way to distinguish Caped Crusader from The Animated Series. The writers used both films and Batman comics released during that period as an influence on character portrayals and design, particularly regarding Catwoman and Clayface. The series draws particular inspiration from noir films, with Tucker being a fan of the genre and wanting to implement it to the series to create an interpretation of the character that hasn't been done in animation.

Brudbaker said the series would have a more adult tone while still catering towards a young audience, comparing its rating to Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the series focusing on solving murder mysteries and Batman's self-destructive tendencies. This was reaffirmed during the 2023 Annecy Film Festival by Warner Bros. Animation vice-president Peter Girardi, who noted the series would target an older audience, which gave Timm more creative freedom than The Animated Series, where he had to discard ideas due to censorship. Timm noted some elements of the series were recycled from plans he discarded from The Animated Series, such as depicting "this emotionally messed-up version of Batman, who's extremely aloof and almost inhuman".

Casting
Diedrich Bader revealed he did voice work for the series in August 2022. In June 2024, the voice cast for the series were revealed with Hamish Linklater announced to be voicing Batman and Bader to be voicing Two-Face.

Animation and post-production
Animation services were provided by Studio IAM and Studio Grida. James Tucker returns from previous DC animated media as a character designer. Post-production for the series began in January 2024, with early cuts for some episodes having already been developed by that point. The character design for Batman was inspired by his 1930s comics design, which artists used as a "starting point" for a more stylized taje in order to differentiate his appearance from his design in previous media.

Music
By May 2024, Frederik Wiedmann had been working as a composer for the series.

Marketing
An early animation reel for the series was shown during the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Release
Batman: Caped Crusader is scheduled to be released on August 1, 2024, on Amazon Prime Video. The series was originally set to release on HBO Max.