Ethan Hawke, Jacob Bertrand, and AJ Hudson are leading the voice cast for Batwheels, DC's first preschool animated series produced by Warner Bros. Animation.
The talented cast of Batwheels was rolled out on Monday during a special virtual event celebrating the launch of Cartoonito, WarnerMedia Kids & Family's new preschool programming block available on HBO Max and Cartoon Network, which will feature a brand new animated series about the most heroic and iconic vehicles from the DC universe.
Unexpectedly, Hawke (Training Day, Boyhood) will be providing the voice of Gotham City's greatest protector, Batman, who aims to keep the streets safe from any and all threats alongside Hudson's Duke Thomas, the first black Robin to have donned the pages of DC comics, and Leah Lewis as Cassandra Cain, aka Batgirl, the first Asian-American Batgirl as introduced in the comics.
While Robin "loves sinking his teeth into a great detective mystery," Batgirl jumps right into the action "ripping around the streets of Gotham City on her motorcycle," otherwise known as Bibi, the fastest of the Batwheels, voiced by Madigan Kacmar. Bibi features alongside Noah Bentley's Buff, the Bat-styled monster truck at "the heart of the team."
Bertrand's Batmobile, nicknamed Bam, is the leader of the Batwheels team, though "he's not always sure he's up for the task." Fortunately, he has a sidekick in Jordan Reed's Redbird, Robin's zippy sports car who is "enthusiastic and extremely inquisitive" on every mission, including those that involve Lilimar's Batwing, Batman’s "sophisticated" supersonic jet plane.
The Batwheels crew are supported by Kimberly D. Brooks who voices the Batcomputer, serving as "the supervisor, dispatcher, and trainer of the team" as well as their mother figure. Mick Wingert's Moe, on the other hand, is Batman's sarcastic robot repairman who "facilitates repairs and upkeep on his fleet of vehicles."
The Batwheels are described by Warner Bros. Animation as a team of incredible crimefighters who have banded together to combat crime and evil on the streets of Gotham. The series will follow the sentient vehicles as they "navigate the growing pains of being a newly formed super team as well as the growing pains that come with just being a kid."
Batwheels is being produced by Warner Bros. Animation, with Sam Register (Looney Tunes Cartoons) serving as executive producer on the project alongside Michael G. Stern (Doc McStuffins). Simon J. Smith (Baymax Dreams) is also on board as a supervising producer, together with Steven Fink of Bang Zoom Ltd. as a producer.
The series joins a roster of shows aimed at preschoolers that will be available on HBO Max and Cartoon Network. However, HBO Max is also expanding its offering of adult animated television series, with a Scooby-Doo spinoff series, a Clone High reboot, and Fired on Mars, an existential workplace comedy set on the Martian campus of a modern tech company.
Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.