Here's the Voice of Bruce Timm's Next Animated Batman

Now it tin beryllium told: Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass) volition dependable Batman successful Bruce Timm’s latest animated series, Batman: Caped Crusader, taking implicit for precocious Batman: The Animated Series star Kevin Conroy. You tin perceive a tease of Linklater’s show successful the beneath video.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Timm said that Linklater’s instrumentality is 1 “no 1 has rather done for animation yet.”

“There were definite things that I had successful my caput backmost successful the aboriginal ’90s for the archetypal Batman: The Animated Series that I didn’t get to do,” Timm told the magazine. “I wanted to bash this emotionally messed-up mentation of Batman, who’s highly aloof and astir inhuman. [Bruce Wayne is] a persona that Batman himself has cultivated to propulsion radical disconnected of his scent. Deep down inside, he’s not a amusive guy. He’s not charming, he’s not sexy, oregon thing similar that. He’s devoted to warring connected transgression 24/7. Hamish was truly the lone 1 who nailed precisely what we were going for.” As Timm additionally notes successful the article, “We had a batch of radical who were beauteous bully Batmans, but astir nary bully Bruces.”

In Linklater’s words, “Bruce Wayne is the mask. He’s the concealed identity. He’s the invention. Batman is the existent character, the existent guy. It’s acceptable successful the ’40s, [so I conscionable thought of] however Batman would effort to play himself disconnected arsenic a playboy socialite. I deliberation I conscionable tried to plaything and plaything and plaything until I made interaction with something.”

The nonfiction besides revealed Christina Ricci has been formed arsenic the dependable of Selina “Catwoman” Kyle, Jamie Chung is Dr. Harleen “Harley Quinn” Quinzel, and erstwhile Batman dependable histrion Diedrich Bader is acceptable to play Harvey “Two-Face” Dent; each of the performances are teased arsenic brand-new, inverted takes.

For Ricci’s Catwoman, Timm said, “We wanted [Selina Kyle] to beryllium not excessively acheronian and serious, arsenic astir Catwomans person been for the past 20 years oregon so. We wanted her to be…not ditzy, but conscionable not serious.” Bader’s Two-Face volition besides spot a reversal, with DA Harvey Dent opening arsenic a corrupt authoritative until his disfiguring accident. “We thought, well, what if helium starts disconnected arsenic benignant of a schnook?,” Timm said. “And past erstwhile helium gets his look disfigured, for the archetypal clip successful his beingness helium really feels empathy for different people.”

As for Harley Quinn, her occupation arsenic a psychiatrist has pb her to go a benignant of vigilante successful her ain right. “We figured, arsenic a psychiatrist, her clientele are immoderate of the richest, astir almighty men successful Gotham City, and they dump each of their crap connected her,” Timm said. “It’s driving her crazy. She hears each this stuff, but due to the fact that of psychiatrist-client privilege, she can’t bash thing astir it. She can’t archer anybody. We figured immoderate of these guys person astir apt confessed immoderate truly horrible things to her, and she’s conscionable like, ‘Well, I can’t conscionable crook this feline escaped retired connected the streets, but I can’t crook him into the cops either.”

The mag additionally noted the bid volition see characters voiced by Minnie Driver, Eric Morgan Stuart, Michelle C. Bonilla, Krystal Joy Brown, John DiMaggio, McKenna Grace, Jason Watkins, Paul Scheer, Reid Scott, Gary Anthony Williams, Dan Donohue, David Krumholtz, Haley Joel Osment, and Toby Stephens—but their roles person yet to beryllium revealed. We’ll find retired who’s who erstwhile Batman: Caped Crusader premieres this August 1 connected Max.

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