One of the final movies to be released during the DC Extended Universe era of the DC movies in order was Blue Beetle, which starred Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes. The superhero flick was met with mixed feelings from critics, including CinemaBlend’s Blue Beetle review giving it 2.5 out of 5 stars, and it only ended up making a little under $131 million worldwide. As such, although it’s been confirmed that Maridueña will continue to play Jaime in the new DC Universe franchise, there hasn’t been any word about if Blue Beetle 2 will move forward, but now it’s looking like this character’s story will continue on the small screen instead.
Word’s come in that Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios have started developing a Blue Beetle animated series. According to Deadline, The Casagrandes’ Miguel Puga was tapped as the project’s showrunner and director earlier this year, Good Trouble’s Christina Martinez has been hired to write it. Additionally, Angel Manuel Soto and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, who respectively directed and wrote the Blue Beetle movie, will executive produce this animated series alongside John Rickard, who carried out that same duty on the movie. Galen Vaisman, another executive producer from 2023’s Blue Beetle, will oversee the show for DC Studios.
This report mentions that while none of the Blue Beetle movie’s cast members have signed contracts to reprise their roles for the animated series, “multiple have been approached and DC has received a positive response regarding returns.” The animated series will “create its own story” that builds on the events of the movie, and this could in turn possibly lead to Xolo Maridueña reprising Jaime Reyes in another movie.
It seems like a good bet that at the very least, Maridueña will voice Jaime in this Blue Beetle animated series. After all, on top of DC Studios co-head James Gunn’s insistence that the Cobra Kai alum will stick around, it’s been made clear that actors who are voicing characters in animated DC Universe productions will also play those same characters in live-action projects. Case in point, Frank Grillo, who’s voicing Rick Flag Sr. in the animated Creature Commandos series that’s premiering to Max subscription holders at the end of the year, is confirmed to be reprising the role in Peacemaker Season 2.
As mentioned earlier, because the Blue Beetle movie technically took place in the DCEU, it’s unclear how much of those events will be considered canon in the DC Universe. Hopefully the Blue Beetle end-credits reveal of Ted Kord still being alive will be kept intact, meaning this animated series could follow up on that and show Jaime and Jenny Kord going to rescue him. If that ends up happening, I also hope that whoever is cast to voice Ted will also go on to play him in the live-action Booster Gold series, as it’d be foolish not to pair these together as best buddies like they are in the comics.
Blue Beetle 2 may still stand a chance of happening someday, but for now, this Blue Beetle animated series is taking priority. We’ll pass along any major updates on how the project is coming along.
