1990s Live Action Batman TV Show Casting

I am pondering doing a timeline in which Burton's Batman movies ad Timm's Animated series dovetail into a live action Batman television series. There are some actors from the Animated Series who I feel could pull of the same roles in a live capacity as well. Namely Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill in their central roles as Batman and Joker.

I think Hamill could be a good draw for audiences, since they'll actually be seeing him this time around. I was wondering, AH.com, who else do you think would be good for the various roles in the show?

I wonder if perhaps Richard Dean Anderson would be a good Batman in an early/mid 90s series. He's around the same age as Michael Keaton and he also has a bit of name recognition coming off MacGyver. Though sadly that means he wouldn't be able to play O'Neill in SG-1.

Mark Harmon could probably be a good pick as well.

EvilSpaceAlien said:

I wonder if perhaps Richard Dean Anderson would be a good Batman in an early/mid 90s series. He's around the same age as Michael Keaton and he also has a bit of name recognition coming off MacGyver. Though sadly that means he wouldn't be able to play O'Neill in SG-1.

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I think it would depend on the tone of the show. If you wanted a light and funny, but not campy Batman, then RDA might work, but if you're envisioning Batman as a scowling badass, then he's not the right person. He could also work as Commissioner Gordon.

Mike Stearns said:

I think it would depend on the tone of the show. If you wanted a light and funny, but not campy Batman, then RDA might work, but if you're envisioning Batman as a scowling badass, then he's not the right person. He could also work as Commissioner Gordon.

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Well I think that there probably would be a bit of wisecracking element to Batman if you consider the tone of most 1990s tv shows. The whole rough grimdark thing hadn't really started to catch on yet back then, at least not so much on television.

I was also thinking that John de Lancie might be a good pick to play the Riddler. He seems like he'd be a good fit for the part.

EvilSpaceAlien said:

I was also thinking that John de Lancie might be a good pick to play the Riddler. He seems like he'd be a good fit for the part.

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I could see that. It be like Q with a VERY darkly twisted sense of humour.

EDIT: Just had two possible casting thoughts. The first is Jerry Doyle, AKA Garibaldi, from Babylon 5. Batman needs to be badass, but Garibaldi can be ironically funny at times, so it could work. Garibaldi and Bruce Wayne are both haunted by their past.

The other thought was George Clooney. He could have been an awesome Batman, but there was nothing in the OTL Batman and Robin film that gave him the opportunity to do that, and he can definetly play a suave, playboy billionaire.

So how about either Jerry Doyle or George Clooney as Bruce Wayne/Batman, John DeLancie as the Riddler and Richard Dean Anderson as Commissioner Gordon.

EDIT 2: It also occured to me that Tricia Helfer or possible Jeri Ryan might make for a good Catwoman.

Peter Jurasik as the Penguin, Kyle MacLachlan as Two-Face, Amanda Plummer as Harley Quinn.

I think RDA is too young to play Gordon - certainly a version along the same lines as the comics, the Burton films and animated version. Ronny Cox would be right for it, if he's willing to commit to a regular TV role.

Maybe Edward James Olmos could tackle Commissioner Gordon, if he's willing to commit to another tv show so soon after coming off Miami Vice. Though he might be a bit too young at that point too...

Eric Stoltz could also be a good Batman if you want a bit of darker take on the character, though he might be a bit on the young side. But come to think of it, he wouldn't be much younger than Christian Bale in Batman Begins...

EvilSpaceAlien said:

Maybe Edward James Olmos could tackle Commissioner Gordon, if he's willing to commit to another tv show so soon after coming off Miami Vice.

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He's definitely got the moustache for it.

Eric Stoltz could also be a good Batman if you want a bit of darker take on the character, though he might be a bit on the young side. But come to think of it, he wouldn't be much younger than Christian Bale in Batman Begins...

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I think there's a very open range for Batman - anywhere between 25 and 40, unless you're definitely going for a Year One thing with the focus on training and becoming Batman. But unless you are following that Year One route, with Gordon as a detective rather than Commissioner, you need an actor over 50 in Gordon's role. Pre-Nolan, the young(ish) Gordon from Year One had been largely ignored, and the comics glossed over how he seemingly went from 30-something Lieutenant to 50-something Commissioner in under five years (like so much of Batman's repeatedly compressed, decompressed and recompressed timeline).