Best remembered as Eric Matthews from Boy Meets World after a seven-year run on ABC, Will Friedle later became a household name of his own through voicing in animated shows such as Kim Possible, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and The Secret Saturdays following the success of Batman Beyond where he voiced Terry McGinnis. The second person to take on the Batman mantle after Bruce Wayne in a futuristic Neo-Gotham set in the year 2039. Now over two years since the passing of his co-star Kevin Conroy in 2022, Fridele reveals his thoughts on a continuation of the series and a statement he will no longer voice the character anytime soon.
During a panel at Animate Columbus! 2025 nearly a month ago, Friedle recently spoke to a fan on returning to voice McGinnis without Conroy's involvement as Bruce Wayne.
If you asked me that question three years ago, the answer would be, 'Oh my god, yes. Get me in front of the microphone right now.' Now that Kevin's gone, I don't know if I could do it again. I think they would need to recast both roles. Being Terry and not having him answer as Bruce, I don't think I could do it.
Friedle is the second person to make a choice on declining to reprise his role due to Conroy's death after co-star Mark Hamill in 2023. As the Star Wars lead officially stepped down from voicing the Joker after three decades during a question at Fan Expo San Francisco. Quoting his reasoning be "Without Batman, crime has no punch line.". Like Hamill, Fridele's final time voicing his iconic role as Terry McGinnis was last year's Crisis on Infinite Earths trilogy.
Kevin Conroy had portrayed Batman for three decades, more than any actor in different mediums ranging to animation, video games and even in live action as a version of Bruce Wayne from Earth-99 in part two of the CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover through the Batwoman television series. He died at the age of 66 after suffering from intenstinal cancer at his home in New York. Prior to his death, Conroy wrote an autobiographical comic titled "Finding Batman", as part of that year's DC Pride issue. The comic is currently free on DC's website.
Created and developed by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Alan Burnett and produced by Warner Bros. Television Animation, Batman Beyond is a futuristic continuation of The New Batman Adventures, which, in turn, was a continuation of the critically acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series. The series, set in the distant future, sees a much older Bruce Wayne play mentor to Terry McGinnis, an athletic high schooler and reformed juvenile delinquent who takes on the mantle of the Caped Crusader. The series aired from January 1999 to December 2001 and received critical acclaim.