Jensen Ackles Celebrates Being Cast As Batman In The Long Halloween

After years of being fan-cast in the role and occasionally even playing into hype by doing things like cosplaying as the Dark Knight, Supernatural and The Boys star Jensen Ackles will play Batman in Batman: The Long Halloween, a two-part animated movie event that begins this spring or summer. This marks Ackles's second major foray into the world of Gotham City, having voiced the Red Hood in Batman: Under the Red Hood in 2010. He also appeared in a number of episodes of Smallville in the role of Jason Teague, making this his third notable DC Universe role as an actor.

The late Glee star Naya Rivera, who died in July 2020, voices Selina Kyle/Catwoman. The Hollywood Reporter says that Rivera completed her voice recording sessions for Batman: The Long Halloween Part One and Part Two before her death. Part One will release in late spring or early summer 2021.

"Been sitting on this news for while now," Ackles said on Twitter. "So excited and honored to be a part of the Batman legacy."

Also lending their voices to the film are Josh Duhamel as Harvey Dent, Billy Burke as James Gordon, Titus Welliver as Carmine Falcone, David Dastmalchian as Calendar Man, Troy Baker as Joker, Amy Landecker as Barbara Gordon, Julie Nathanson as Gilda Dent, Jack Quaid as Alberto, Fred Tatasciore as Solomon Grundy, and Alastair Duncan as Alfred.

Chris Palmer, who launched the new era of DC Universe animated movies with last year's Superman: The Man of Tomorrow, directs Batman: The Long Halloween: Part One. Tim Sheridan scripted both films. Jim Krieg and Kimberly S. Moreau are producing, with Butch Lukic serving as supervising producer and Michael Uslan and Sam Register acting as executive producers. Warner Bros. Animation, DC, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment are producing the film. There is no word yet on whether Palmer will direct the second half of the story. Jay Oliva directed both halves of the two-part Batman: The Dark Knight Returns movie in 2012 and 2013, but the 2018-2019 Death and Return of Superman, originally released as The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen, was split between Sam Liu and James Tucker in order to keep the pace of production going.

Batman: The Long Halloween adapts the Batman comics story drawn by Tim Sale and written by Jeph Loeb that DC Comics published in 1996 and 1997. The story takes place early in Bruce Wayne's career as the Dark Knight and sees Batman investigating a serial murderer known as the holiday killer who strikes monthly timed to, you guessed it, holidays. The story also famously has Batman going up against a gauntlet of foes from his rogues' gallery. The story was a major inspiration for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, particularly its depiction of Batman, Jim Gordon, and Harvey Dent's relationship. There's also speculation that the film is part of the inspiration for the next Batman movie, Matt Reeves' The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne.