Batman: Caped Crusader star Hamish Linklater realized early on that he couldn’t just do an imitation of Kevin Conroy.
For many, Kevin Conroy is, and always will be, the definitive voice of Batman. After all, the late actor voiced the character across TV, movies, and video games for three decades. Truly a tough act for anyone to follow, which Batman: Caped Crusader star Hamish Linklater discovered when he was trying to find his Batman voice and found himself unconsciously imitating Kevin Conroy.
While speaking with GamesRader+, Linklater explained that he quickly realized that he couldn’t just do an imitation of Conroy. “I grew up as a massive fan of Batman: The Animated Series and Kevin Conroy was like the voice of my god in my head, but I hadn’t seen the series in a minute when I got the audition,” Linklater said. “I was sitting in my car with my phone and I beat it to death, I kept going back and listening to it as I wanted to hear and find that voice to find Batman. I got as close as I was going to get but then I realized I was actually just chasing Kevin’s voice.“
Linklater eventually developed his own take on the Dark Knight, but finding his Bruce Wayne voice was even more challenging. “It’s certainly taken longer to feel comfortable with Bruce than Batman – there’s a lot more Batman than Bruce in the first season,” he said. “But that’s what is also helpful about it being week two of Batman, is that it’s also Hamish’s Batman week two. I haven’t been on the job very long so I’m finding it as I go along.“
The first season of Batman: Caped Crusader is now streaming on Prime Video and has received rave reviews. Our own Jessica Dwyer enjoyed the series despite it not meeting her expectations. “Did my hopes get dashed with this latest animated Dark Knight when I finally watched it? No, but I also wasn’t overwhelmed either,” Dwyer wrote in her review. “As I said, there’s something really special about the original series that would be hard to recapture. Batman: Caped Crusader is trying really hard to do that, and there’s hope that it will eventually get there.” She also had plenty of praise for Linklater’s performance, saying, “I can’t say enough how much I love Hamish Linklater’s voice here. I’m not ashamed to say I teared up a little bit. I hope he knows how much that means to fans of the OG.” You can check out the rest of Dwyer’s review right here.
