SDCC 2026 Interview: “Batman: Caped Crusader”

The cast and executive producers discuss the new season of animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, iconic villains, and the many versions of Batman and his cast of characters at SDCC 2026.

Fans at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con got the opportunity to see the premiere of animated series Batman: Caped Crusader’s second season. The series emphasizes the noir elements of the Batman IP, and the first season presented some fresh new takes on iconic Batman characters. The premiere showed a first look at the villains making their series debut, most notably the Joker and the Riddler. The Geekiary also sat down with executive producers James Tucker and Geoffrey Thorne, as well as voice actors Hamish Linklater (Batman), Jamie Chung (Harley Quinn), and new addition Matthew Needham (The Joker) to learn more about the latest second season.

First, Tucker and Thorne shared the inspiration for the series’ noir setting. Both cited Batman’s initial history as a darker character before the comics were made lighter in tone to appeal to kids. “We are taking our series and jumping off those few issues that he was more violent, before Robin showed up. All of our influences are what was going on at the time in the movies, like gangster movies, film noir was beginning, Universal Monster movies. All those influences were things we thought we could pull in now to this Batman that the comic book, had a little bit of but couldn’t because of appealing to children,” said Tucker.

Thorne shared that the historical setting allowed Batman to go back to his roots before many of his now iconic gadgets. “He’s just a guy in a suit with some stuff. In a weird way, it makes him tougher and it forces you to remember that he has a brain in there. He actually has to figure things out.”

Regarding their relationship with DC Comics and the wider universe of DC media, Tucker indicated that most of the battles regarding the direction of the series were resolved in the first season. On the second season, Tucker said, “We didn’t get anything from the DC side of things, any note we got was more about how to approach what we wanted to do, as opposed to saying, ‘Just don’t do that.’”

On working with fellow producer Matt Reeves, director of live-action film The Batman, Tucker shared, “Much like how Bruce Timm’s version, [Batman: The Animated Series] was connected to Tim Burton’s, ours is connected tonally to Matt Reeves. But it’s not a mimic. We’re not doing watered-down The Batman. He was very hands-off. He trusted us to make the right decisions.”

In terms of the future of the series, Thorne said, “Batman has the deepest bench in all of comics. All of his villains are great, and there’s like 150 of them or something. I’ve said this before, we could literally kill every villain off every episode, every season, and have ten seasons of good Batman stories to tell. In the old days they had sixty-seven episodes, or something like that, but we have ten. There’s always more villains, and frankly I wish we had longer seasons.”

Regarding the future of Batman on screen, Tucker and Thorne indicated that there was plenty of room for multiple interpretations of the character. “I hope that [the DCU’s upcoming The Brave and the Bold] is a little lighter, because that would be good for the brand of showing people you can have a lighter action-packed Batman that’s not silly, that works for all ages. I think that’s something that the movie Batman needs to get back to. Eventually, because I love The Batman and I can’t wait to see Part 2.”

Thorne added, “I think the mythology is so big now after so many decades. We’ve seen Batman be a robot, we’ve seen Batman be a car, we’ve seen Batman be a dog. I feel like there’s room for everybody to get their Batman, just like everybody has their favorite Star Trek crew. Same deal, and nobody’s wrong. Everybody can love what they love.”

Next, the voice actors shared their process of creating their own take on their iconic characters and how much their predecessors’ performances impacted their own. “I think we all love our characters so much because of other people’s performances that preceded us. Or just our experiences with the comic books as kids too. I think when you love something, you want to do right by it and I think that’s really a nice place to go to work,” said Linklater.

Chung said, “I feel like imitation is the biggest form of flattery. It’s hard not to imitate Arleen Sorkin’s version of Harley Quinn, but it would also be a disservice.” She later added, “I loved watching Margot Robbie’s version of Harley Quinn. She’s such a baddie. But then there’s only one clip of her being Dr. Harleen Quinzel and there wasn’t much to go off of before she gets thrown in the vat. I kind of liked that they asked me to flip the character into versions of herself. I think it’s more disarming to have a therapist be nice to you versus not nice to you. You open up more. It’s a great tactic.”

Needham shared that this version of the Joker is a departure from previous versions. “For me, I didn’t need to go back to any iteration because I think they’re all so baked into my DNA. I can just close my eyes and I can just hear Mark Hamill now. For me, it’s a strange one because they wanted a complete departure. It was a really strange feeling being in the booth playing the Joker but not being manic, not having that Joker energy. It’s a really strange feeling because you can sort of feel like there’s a muscle memory of the Joker that you start to go towards. They’re all really good at pulling me back, sort of talking me down to being quiet, calmer, flatter was a note. But there’s so many brilliant iterations of the Joker.”

Regarding the possibility of a future villain team-up, Chung said, “I think it would be a great time to get them all at Arkham Asylum and then do a breakout. We’re not there yet, but I think it’s a great pitch.” In terms of future villains, Needham said that he wants to see a new iteration of Egghead from the 60s series with Adam West. Chung wants to see Poison Ivy. “I cosplayed her in college,” she shared.

The second season of Batman: Caped Crusader is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

You can keep up with The Geekiary’s San Diego Comic-Con 2026 coverage here.

Author: Jessica Wolff

Jessica Wolff is a graduate of Drexel University with a BS in Film/Video. She has a passion for entertainment and representation in entertainment. She currently resides outside of Washington, DC.

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