Matthew Needham joins Batman: Caped Crusader season 2 as the Joker
Matthew Needham will voice the Joker in Batman: Caped Crusader season 2, with the casting revealed at San Diego Comic-Con.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
Matthew Needham is the new Joker in Batman: Caped Crusader season 2, Deadline reported, putting the House of the Dragon actor behind one of DC’s most famous villains for Prime Video’s animated Batman series.
The casting was announced Thursday at San Diego Comic-Con during a panel for the noir-styled show. Needham appeared at the event as the team revealed his role, according to Deadline.
Who is voicing the Joker in Batman: Caped Crusader season 2?
Needham will voice the Joker in the second season of Batman: Caped Crusader. Deadline reported that Prime Video also released an image of Needham’s version of the character as part of the Comic-Con reveal.
The announcement adds Needham to the long line of actors who have played the Joker across Batman projects. The role is one of the most recognizable in superhero storytelling, and in this series it lands inside a darker animated take on Gotham’s early crime-fighting years.
The Comic-Con panel also gave fans the world premiere screening of the season 2 premiere episode, Deadline reported. Executive producers James Tucker and Geoffrey Thorne joined the conversation, along with voice cast members Hamish Linklater and Jamie Chung.
Linklater voices Batman in the series. Needham’s arrival brings a major new villain into the show’s second run, though Deadline did not report story details about how the Joker enters the season.
What is Batman: Caped Crusader?
Batman: Caped Crusader is an animated series centered on Bruce Wayne in his early years as Batman. Prime Video describes the show as a hard-boiled take on the character, following the billionaire as he wages a one-man fight against crime after personal tragedy shapes him into Gotham’s vigilante.
The series reimagines Batman mythology through executive producers J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves and Bruce Timm. It is based on DC characters and comes from Warner Bros. Animation, DC Studios, Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and Reeves’ 6th & Idaho.
Along with Abrams, Reeves and Timm, the executive producer lineup includes Tucker, Thorne, Sarah Geismer, Rachel Rusch Rich and Sam Register, according to Deadline.
When does Batman: Caped Crusader season 2 come out?
Season 2 of Batman: Caped Crusader is scheduled to arrive Friday, July 31, on Prime Video as a binge release in more than 240 countries and territories, Deadline reported. Season 1 is already streaming on the service.
The Joker will also turn up in another Prime-connected release. At the end of the Comic-Con panel, Amazon Luna showed a trailer for Batman: Caped Crusader – Chronicles, a game set to launch July 31, the same day as the new season.
Deadline reported that Needham will voice the Joker in the game as well. Linklater and Michelle C. Bonilla are also part of the game’s voice cast.
The wider Batman: Caped Crusader voice ensemble includes Eric Morgan Stuart, Michelle C. Bonilla, Krystal Joy Brown, Jason Watkins, Gary Anthony Williams, Ronan Raftery, Wunmi Mosaku, Laraine Newman, Grey DeLisle, John DiMaggio, Zach Hoffman, William Salyers, Josh Brener, Bumper Robinson, Cedric Yarbrough, Tom Kenny, Roger Craig Smith, Blythe Melin, Fryda Wolff, Kevin Michael Richardson, Juliet Donenfeld and Robin Atkin Downes, according to Deadline.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.