Last year marked 20 years since Batman Beyond concluded its three-season run (including the direct-to-video movie Return of The Joker), but it wouldn’t be the last time we’d see Terry McGinnis in the DC Animated Universe. The Caped Crusader of Neo Gotham City popped up in a few episodes of Static Shock and Justice League Unlimited, and in 2014, Will Friedle reprised Terry in 2014 alongside Kevin Conroy’s Bruce Wayne for a short made in celebration of Batman’s 75th anniversary. Almost a decade later, when could we hear Friedle voice Terry again?
That’s just what I asked Will Friedle while interviewing him about playing Lex Luthor and Aquaman in the upcoming animated movie Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse. While Friedle didn’t rule out returning to the world of Batman Beyond someday, he did say he’s been hearing such a prospect for a long time, only for nothing to actually happen. In his words:
Who knows? We’ve been hearing we’re going to do more episodes, we’ve been hearing we’re going to do more movies, we’ve been hearing that since we ended in 2000. We’ve also heard 19 different times they’re doing live-action movies. Who knows? My guess is we’ll see Terry McGinnis again in some form, but as of now, I’ve heard nothing about it. But I have to imagine at some point in the future, they will do some live-action [project] or they will do something animated. We just haven’t heard about it yet.
A live-action Batman Beyond movie has been considered as far back as 2001, when the animated series was coming to a close and Warner Bros. Pictures was still trying to figure out what to do with the live-action Batman film series following the critical thrashing of Batman & Robin. Fast-forward to 2019, it was rumored that an animated Batman Beyond movie was in the works, but that was soon debunked. Will Friedle has gotten used to hearing all sorts of supposed news on the next iteration of Batman Beyond, which he’s then had to run by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment publicist Gary Miereanu. The actor continued:
About twice a year, something explodes on the internet about, ‘Hey, they’re doing more episodes of Batman Beyond,’ and I will then call Gary [Miereanu] and go, ‘Is this true?’ And he’ll go, ‘No, no, we haven’t heard about any of this.’ And then another six months will go by, and they’ll go, ‘Now they’re doing it! They’re doing a live-action [project], they’re casting for Terry McGinnis.’ And I’ll call Gary and he’ll go, ‘No, no, this is all rumors.’ And that has been happening for 15 years now. So I’m sure it’ll happen in some way, shape or form in the future, I just don’t know when or how.
Batman Beyond was one of Will Friedle’s first voice acting gigs, with the animated show beginning its run in 1999, only one year ahead of Boy Meets World, the sitcom where Friedle played Eric Matthews, wrapping up. Unlike its DCAU predecessors Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures and Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond’s premise didn’t originate from the comics. Nevertheless, it quickly became a fan-favorite (I consider it one of the best iterations of Batman), and since 2010 there have been various Batman Beyond comic book series published by DC Comics, though many of them have either been tied to the main DC continuity or set in a different universe, rather than share a direct connection to the original TV show.
So as things currently stand, Will Friedle (who’s also known for voicing Blue Beetle) hasn’t heard anything about any kind of Batman Beyond revival, although he does think the property will make an onscreen comeback at some point. Having said that, he also made it clear when he’ll truly believe Batman Beyond is back, be it on the big or small screen:
I’ll believe it when I’m either sitting in the movie theater watching a live-action version, or I’m behind the microphone actually voicing him again. That’s when I’ll actually believe it.
It is worth mentioning that in March 2021, Will Friedle and other cast members from Batman Beyond appeared with voice director Andrea Romano for a table read & Q&A for IGN Fan Fest, and it was there that Romano suggested that fans should start a campaign to let Warner Bros. know they want Batman Beyond to return. That’s not to say taking such action would guarantee success, and with Batman: Caped Crusader on the way to HBO Max, the company may be stocked up on animated Batman series for the foreseeable future. Still, if/when it’s announced that Friedle is reprising Terry McGinnis somewhere, we’ll let you know.
Until then, Batman Beyond and all the other DCAU shows be be streamed with an HBO Max subscription. If you’re interested about what Terry McGinnis is up to these days in the comics, sign up for DC Universe Infinite or head to your local comic book store.
