Greg Weisman on Likelihood of Young Justice Season 3

Last April, Greg Weisman, writer and producer behind series like Gargoyles, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Young Justice took part on an online Q & A with fans through Facebook. There, Weisman spoke of the abrupt cancellation of Young Justice and any possibilities for the series moving forward.

First and foremost, the Young Justice producer confronted the possibility of the show’s return. When asked if Young Justice might see a revival, Weisman replied, “I hope so. Brandon Vietti and I would love to do more episodes, and Chris Jones and I would love to do more issues of the companion comic.” 

Controversy surrounding the show’s abrupt removal from Cartoon Network reached new heights last summer when Paul Dini visited Kevin Smith’s Fatman on Batman podcast. There, the mastermind behind shows like Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League suggested that Young Justice’s cancellation ultimately was the result of poor toy sales.

Weisman all but confirmed that this was in fact true when a fan asked, “If season three of YJ was never made because of ‘toy sales,’ were the toy sales during season one good enough to get the second season made?” To this, Weisman replied, “The anticipation of them were,” meaning that merchandisers were relying on sales to pick up as the show went on, but lost hope by the time season two wrapped.

Many fans have been vocal about the show’s removal from the Cartoon Network lineup occurring near-simultaneously with the network’s introduction of Teen Titans Go!. The latter series is often criticized for being aimed for a younger audience and having less emphasis on character relationships and overarching plot lines. When asked for his opinion about whether cancelling a show as popular as Young Justice to make room for less well received DC shows was a mistake by the network, Weisman provided one of his most detailed answers of the Q & A.

“Okay, first off, no one cancelled YJ to make room for anything. YJ was cancelled largely for financial reasons. Second, the implication that YJ was followed by shows that were ‘less well received’ is patently false. Teen Titans Go!, for example gets WAY BETTER RATINGS than YJ ever got. You personally may not like it as much, which is your right, but that doesn’t make your opinion the TRUTH. But, of course, I wish they had picked up YJ for a third season. We would have loved to have made more.”

A handful of questions revolved around what DC fans could have looked forward to had YJ been renewed for a third season. One fan asked how much planning had gone into the third season, if any at all. “We knew the basics,” Weisman said. “Not every little detail. Things might have changed depending on how many episodes were ordered. But we knew where we were going.” When pressed for more detail, both on Young Justice’s as well as Spectacular Spider-Man’s third seasons, Weisman admitted, “I have plenty of ideas for both, but I don’t give out spoilers [because] I hold out hope of coming back to these series some day, so I don’t want to give away stuff.”

Still, Weisman has clearly not given up on seeing his interpretation of the iconic teenage DC heroes return in some form given his refusal to spill any details from the planned third season. Until that happens, however, fans craving more of Weisman’s work can check out his most recent animated series, Star Wars Rebels, or check out the upcoming AudioPlay for his paranormal novel, Rain of the Ghosts. by coreyvandenhoogenband