UPDATE: CinemaBlend has since learned that Jensen Ackles will 100% not be voicing Bruce Wayne in Gotham Knights, and that the voice work he was referring to is for another DC project. The original story continues below.
Although Jensen Ackles is best known for playing for playing Dean Winchester in Supernatural, the man has also assembled quite the superhero media resume. Along with currently starring as Soldier Boy in The Boys Season 3, Ackles has also voiced Jason Todd/Red Hood in Batman: Under the Red Hood and Batman in last year’s two-part adaptation of The Long Halloween. Now Ackles has confirmed that he’s voicing DC Comics’ Caped Crusader again, and there’s a distinct chance it could be for the upcoming DC TV show Gotham Knights.
Starting off, Jensen Ackles stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk about his time on The Boys and other aspects of his career, and when the eponymous host brought up how the actor had done some superhero voice work before, Ackles said:
Yep. In fact, I just spent about three and a half hours in the studio yesterday doing, uh, doing Batman… That was a big deal. I don't want to drop that ball.
Now working off this statement alone, one might assume that Jensen Ackles is simply voicing Batman again for one of DC’s direct-to-video animated movies, and perhaps that is indeed the case. However, there’s another key piece of information to take into consideration. Ackles was a guest at SXSW earlier this year, and in the section of the festival’s schedule detailing his career (via CBR), it was mentioned that "Jensen is also developing an Untitled DC Project with Greg Berlanti." Berlanti has had a hand in all of The CW’s live-action DC TV shows since Arrow, and this includes him being an executive producer on Gotham Knights. These pieces line up rather nicely together, don't they?
This casting would make a lot of sense. For one thing, Gotham Knights’ premise involves Bruce Wayne’s adopted son, Turner Hayes, teaming up with various well-known youths from the Batman mythology, to uncover the mystery behind Bruce’s death. So although we won’t be seeing Bruce (assuming he really is dead), perhaps we could hear him throughout the show, and three and a half hours sounds about right for Ackles to record all that dialogue. Plus, Gotham Knights stars Misha Collins as Harvey Dent, and Collins co-starred with Ackles and Jared Padalecki in Supernatural for most of the show’s run. If you have one Supernatural alum on the show, why not bring another one in too, especially someone who already has experience voicing Batman?
We’ll just have to wait and see if Jensen Ackles’ name is listed in the credits for any of Gotham Knights’ opening episodes. In addition to Misha Collins and Oscar Morgan playing Turner Hayes, the series’ main cast includes Fallon Smythe as Harper Row, Tyler DiChiara as Cullen Rowe, Olivia Rose Keegan as Duela Dent, Navia Robinson as Carrie Kelley, Anna Lore as Stephanie Brown and Rahart Adams as Brody. Although Gotham Knights was created by Natalie Abrams, James Stoteraux, and Chad Fiveash, all of whom worked on Batwoman, this series is not connected to the recently-cancelled Arrowverse series.
Gotham Knights doesn’t have a premiere date on The CW yet, but check out our 2022 TV schedule to learn what shows are currently airing and left to arrive for the rest of the year. If you want to hear Jensen Ackles voicing Batman in the Batman: The Long Halloween movies, you can watch those with an HBO Max subscription.
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