The Clown Prince of Crime will be making his long-awaited debut in the noir animated series, Batman: Caped Crusader.
The Joker is officially heading to the 1940s noir-inspired Gotham of the second season of Prime Video’s 10-part animated series, and we finally know who will be voicing the iconic villain.
House of the Dragon star Matthew Needham, who currently plays Aemond’s cunning adviser and spymaster Larys Strong, has been revealed as the latest actor to join the already impressive casting line-up.
The casting was announced during the Batman: Caped Crusader advanced screening and Q&A with the cast and crew at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday 23 July, where producers James Tucker and Geoffrey Thorne broke the news to fans.
Needham said: “I think anyone who takes over the Joker is a voice who lives in a shadow and that shadow’s name is Mark Hamill.
“So when the audition came in for the Joker, I thought, there’s no way I can do it. But then I looked at the email and the character description that they wanted was two words – European and humorous. And I thought, I’m both of those things.
“But really, even when we were in the booth, I thought, it just can’t be real. I thought surely they’ve got four or five other people across the world and I’m the European one that they’re trying out. And there could be an Australian one somewhere, or a Japanese one and we all think we’ve got the job, but they’ll just pick one at the end. But then it turned out it was me!”
He added: “I still think this is all a lover’s hoax. It doesn’t seem real. I’ve loved Batman, it’s literally my earliest memory, being in Harrods in London and seeing a red Batmobile. So it’s my literal earliest memory, so to be here, it doesn’t make sense to me.”
Needham joined fellow cast members Hamish Linklater and Jamie Chung for the DC and Prime Video panel. The actors voice Bruce Wayne/Batman and Dr Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn respectively, with the casting teased in the panel’s promotion: “Be sure to stay for the full panel – you never know who has the last laugh.”
After being teased in the eerie closing moments of season 1, Tucker and the creative team will finally be sending in the clown, and with the show drawing inspiration from the Golden Age of DC Comics, this iteration of the iconic villain has the potential to be one of the darkest yet.
Fans were briefly introduced to this universe’s version of the Joker as he experimented on grimacing subjects, using what appeared to be an injection of laughing gas to drive his victims insane – though he was shrouded in the shadows.
The trailer for the second season of the crime-caper has since ramped up the pair’s first showdown, as we hear the Joker saying that he’s come to “awaken” the Dark Knight, and show him “what you are” – asking “shall we begin?”
However, fans may have to wait a little longer for that encounter, with James Tucker revealing that he loves “delaying Joker as long as possible for people”, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, citing Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
“Of course, every Batman show’s gonna get that. It’s just how and when.”
With the spiritual sequel to Batman: The Animated Series set in the 1940s pulp noir-inspired world of trench coats and Tommy guns, the iconic villain from Batman’s Rogues Gallery will remain in the shadows for a little longer yet.
The show has featured several unique interpretations of the Dark Knight’s supervillains, and no doubt the Joker will follow suit, with Conrad Veidt’s The Man Who Laughs expected to be one of the key influences on this interpretation.
“That led us to reinterpret Joker as a character who basically came from silent movies, who came from German Expressionism,” Tucker said. “And that informed his stoicism and his coldness, because he’s kind of a cold character in this interpretation.”
The mad clown of Gotham will be joining an impressive line-up of villains including Edward Nygma, Poison Ivy, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Roxy Rocket, Solomon Grundy, Harley Quinn and Man-Bat for the second season.
All 10 episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader season 2 will arrive on 31 July 2026 on Prime Video.
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