Young Justice producers Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti recently talked with MTV about DC's newest animated television show. While they had quite a bit to say about what went in to bringing this show together, I found the thought process for choosing which characters to use on the show was really interesting.
So when it comes time to build the roster for a team like this, what goes into the decision? Are you picking names out of a hat? How does the selection process begin?
Weisman: First, I compiled a list of about 50 or 60 teen DC heroes. We started with as wide a selection as we could and then we tried to narrow it down based on a number of criteria. The criteria included a good mix of powers, skills etc. It had to do with it being a good diverse group, but we had our own personal geek preferences, too. There was also age, gender, and a number of other things, like personality or origins. We also looked for characters that had, frankly, baggage — something we could make some hay out of. And that's how we wound up with our half dozen.
Everyone wants to know if more of the classic teen characters will make an appearance in the show — other George Perez-era Teen Titans, for example...
Weisman: No one's off limits. No one's off the board. We're going to meet more teen characters in this season than the six or seven we start with. We have 26 episodes this season, which we're thrilled about, but we won't pretend we don't want to do additional seasons. So if the audience wants to see more teen characters, they have to keep our ratings high so that they keep ordering more episodes. But even in the first 24 episodes, we have 174 DC characters. That doesn't even count episodes 25 and 26. There will probably be about 180 by the time we're done.
And I'd imagine you have many more stories to tell with this cast, given the chance...
Vietti: We could probably keep telling stories in this universe for a long, long time...
Hawksblueyes: I have to admit, I think that this show, along with EMH are the best two animated superhero shows that have graced the screen in a very long time. I hope both have enough viewers to keep them around for a long time to come.