Last summer, the news broke that DC Studios is moving forward with an animated Blue Beetle TV series. The show was already in development when the announcement was made, with Miguel Puga (The Casagrandes) said to have started work on the project months before.
He'll serve as showrunner, while Cristian Martinez (Women of the Movement) is writing the series. Angel Manuel Soto and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, director and screenwriter of the 2023 movie, respectively, executive producing alongside John Ricard. Galen Vaisman, another Blue Beetle executive producer, is overseeing the series for DC Studios.
Jaime Reyes actor Xolo Maridueña is reprising his role alongside unnamed other actors who also starred in the Blue Beetle movie. However, there have been conflicting reports about whether it's a continuation or soft reboot meant to bring Jaime into the DCU without any DCEU baggage.
Talking to The Direct at the Saturn Awards, Maridueña expressed his enthusiasm to play Blue Beetle again. "I'm ready to come back," he declared. "We're hitting hard this animated project, hoping to get this settled out this year to show everyone next year."
A possible 2026 release is good news and, if Creature Commandos was any indication, DC Studios boss James Gunn has a good handle on which stories to tell in animation and which should be live-action.
Still, most fans are eager to see more of Blue Beetle in the latter realm, particularly as the 2023 movie was easily the best project we got during what proved to be a disastrous final year for the DCEU franchise.
Asked if he's spoken to Gunn about suiting up for real, Maridueña replied, "Look, he's got his hands in his kitchen. I don't want to walk in while the chef is doing his thing. But I can say that once they're finished with this three-course meal, I'm ready. And look, I have no reason to believe that he's lying."
"Like, whatever, we're adults, say whatever you want to say! [Laughs]" he continued. "I'm just happy to have done this first one and I'll continue to spread the word about that while we get the second one drafted up."
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn previously confirmed plans for Maridueña's Jaime Reyes to join the DCU and this series "could potentially lead to a return to the big screen," according to previous reports.
It's unclear whether that would be in another solo outing as the Blue Beetle movie made only $130.8 million worldwide on a reported $104 million - $125 million budget. It still performed better than expected and has a solid 78% score on Rotten Tomatoes, so we'll see.
However, the most likely destination for Blue Beetle is surely DC Studios' Booster Gold TV series...