The World’s Finest caught up with Young Justice Producer Greg Weisman for an all-new interview to discuss not only the series finale of the acclaimed animated series, based on the popular DC Comics character, but to also look back at the complex team series. Weisman looks back at themes, characters, designations, casting and much more. Young Justice airs Saturdays at 10:30am (ET/PT) as part of DC Nation on Cartoon Network! The series finale episode “Endgame” airs at 10:30am (ET/PT) on March 16th, 2013. Continue below for more.
The World’s Finest: I personally believe that, even with the growth of the cast in the second season, Young Justice is still about the original core team introduced at the start of the first season. Would that be a correct statement to make?
Greg Weisman: Not exactly. I would say that the original core Team was more of a priority than some of the new characters. But fundamentally the second season was plot-driven. I don't think we sacrificed character, but characterization would have to come on the fly in service of the larger story. Season One was about us weaving a tapestry to introduce world, characters, conflicts, etc. Season Two had a single driving story (on multiple fronts) and the characters that have been emphasized - or at any rate received the most screen time - were the ones that the story required. So early in Season Two, you see more of Superboy - but less of him in the second half. On the other hand, Artemis barely appeared in the first half-dozen episodes, but her role became quite important, starting in episode 207 and forward. Blue Beetle, as a creation of the Reach, was obviously going to increase in importance as the season progressed and more and more of that connection and its accompanying dilemma were revealed. And because we only had 20 episodes in Season Two, rather than the 26 we had in Season One, I think it's fair to say that certain characters got shorter shrift than others. But the goal was never to give everyone equal time, but rather to make the most of what time we had to offer. I suppose one could make the argument that certain characters didn't need to appear at all, i.e. the fewer the characters, the more screen time there would be for those that made the cut. But (a) I'm not sure the audience would all agree on exactly who should make that cut, and (b) we had fun with every single character for as much or as little time as we could afford to give them. (I wouldn't choose to cut Wonder Girl just because her only big episode was "Beneath".) So instead, we just tried to be true to our continuity and introduce the characters that we felt would be there five years on. If some of those Freshmen - and even some of our Juniors and Seniors - didn't receive equal time with everyone else, I can live with that.
WF: Ultimately, what is the one thing above all else that you hope viewers will take away from Young Justice overall?
GW: SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT. Kidding, kidding. Mostly, I just hope that the characters meant something to them. That they felt real. Not perfect. Real.
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The World's Finest for the complete interview.