Batman: Caped Crusader will be everything Bruce Timm wasn’t able to do in Batman: The Animated Series

Bruce Timm is taking another stab at the Dark Knight with Batman: Caped Crusader. Executive Vice President of Alternative Programming for Warner Bros. Animation Peter Girardi told the crowd at Annecy (via Variety) that Caped Crusader will give Timm the opportunity to do everything he wasn’t able to do with Batman: The Animated Series.

“It’s everything that Bruce Timm wanted to do in the original series [the 1992 “Batman, the Animated Series”] but because it ran on a kid’s channel, he wasn’t able to do it,” Peter Girardi said. “So this definitely skews older. It’s more of his complete vision.” The Batman: Caped Crusader footage screened at Annecy was in the early stages, but was described as “ultra noir” with a “brooding tone.“

Batman: Caped Crusader was ordered by HBO Max and Cartoon Network nearly two years ago, with Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, and Matt Reeves leading the series. However, Warner Bros. Discovery scrapped the series, but Amazon thankfully came to the rescue with a two-season order. The series is billed as a “reimagining of the Batman mythology” that will utilize “state-of-the-art animation techniques and technologies available, this powerful creative partnership will once again reinvent Batman and his iconic rogue’s gallery with sophisticated storytelling, nuanced characters and intense action sequences all set in a visually striking world.“

“We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City,” J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves said in a joint statement when the project was first announced. “The series will be thrilling, cinematic and evocative of Batman’s noir roots, while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world.”

“Batman: The Animated Series was a masterpiece that shaped the perception of the character for an entire generation of fans,” Warner Bros. Animation president Sam Register said. “It is in that spirit that we are bringing together three master storytellers in J.J., Matt and Bruce – each with their own intuitive understanding and affection for the character – to create a new series that will continue in the same groundbreaking legacy.”