Blue Beetle actor Xolo Maridueña has given an update on the superhero’s forthcoming animated series, which will be set within James Gunn’s DC Universe.
What did Xolo Maridueña say about the Blue Beetle animated series?
In June 2024, a Blue Beetle animated series was revealed to be in development at DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation, with Miguel Puga attached as showrunner and director. Puga’s credits include working as a storyboard artist on SpongeBob SquarePants, Gravity Falls, The Fairly OddParents, and Futurama. While not much is known about the series, Maridueña has confirmed that it will continue the story left dangling in the 2023 live-action Blue Beetle movie.
“I’m so excited to get to continue the story of Jaime is an honor and I just can’t wait to see where the heck he goes. It’s still so early but I just know it’s about to be the next craziest anime,” he told Hablemos de Cine during an interview. Maridueña also confirmed that he would be returning as the voice of the young Latino superhero, stating, “There’s only one Blue Beetle.”
DC fans can watch Maridueña talk about the Blue Beetle animated continuation below:
Released in theaters on August 18, 2023, Blue Beetle was the penultimate installment in the DC Extended Universe, which will be soft rebooted into the DC Universe with the debut of Creature Commandos in December. While nothing released in the DCEU will be considered 100% canon in the DCU, Gunn has shared how certain events from the DCEU can still end up being continued in the new universe, stating at NYCC (via Forbes), “There are references to things that happened in the past. And those references then become canon in the DCU because we mention them.”
This means that although the Blue Beetle movie won’t be canon in the DCU, any events from the movie that the animated series mentions will be considered canon. While this will surely be confusing for some, it does allow Gunn to bring back certain actors in the same roles, such as Maridueña as Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle, whose performance was praised in the 2023 movie.
At this time, it is unknown if any Blue Beetle actors beyond Maridueña will also be reprising their respective roles in the DCU. The ensemble cast for Blue Beetle included Bruna Marquezine as Jenny Kord, George Lopez as Rudy Reyes, Adriana Barraza as Nana, Belissa Escobedo as Milagros Reyes, Elpidia Carrillo as Rocio Reyes, Damián Alcázar as Alberto Reyes, Raoul Trujillo as Ignacio Carapax/OMAC, and Harvey Guillén as Dr. Sanchez, with Becky G as the voice of the alien Scarab Khaji-Da.
Blue Beetle is available to stream on Max, while a release window for the animated series has not yet been announced.
