{"id":315796,"date":"2025-10-19T10:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T10:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/315796\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T10:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T10:45:13","slug":"one-of-the-best-joker-actors-ever-didnt-think-hed-ever-be-cast-in-the-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/315796\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the Best Joker Actors Ever Didn\u2019t Think He\u2019d Ever Be Cast in the Role"},"content":{"rendered":"

While there are a lot of villains in the realm of comic book entertainment, there are none as iconic as the Joker and for good reason. Sure, the Clown Prince of Crime is just a great character in general, menacing Gotham City and giving Batman a real run for his money as the Dark Knight\u2019s main antagonist, but a good character is only as great as the talent that brings them to life \u2014 and over the years, there have been many actors<\/a> who have done so brilliantly. Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger\u2019s takes on the Joker<\/a> are iconic, but there is one actor who may just be the best to ever do it and he didn\u2019t think he\u2019d even get the role all because of another iconic role.<\/p>\n

From the moment it debuted in 1992, Batman: The Animated Series was a favorite. The groundbreaking superhero series received widespread critical acclaim and has continued to be a fan favorite for decades and gave fans not only Kevin Conroy\u2019s iconic Batman, but Mark Hamill<\/a>\u2019s Joker as well. But while it\u2019s hard to imagine anyone being the voice of the Joker now, Hamill went into his audition for the role absolutely certain he\u2019d never be cast simply because he was Star Wars\u2019 Luke Skywalker. In a 2024 Wired<\/a> interview, Hamill explained that at the time, much had been made about Michael Keaton being cast as Batman because Keaton was an actor better known for comedy so he assumed that he wouldn\u2019t be given a chance at Joker because he was a Star Wars guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went in, I thought, \u2018You think they\u2019re gonna hire Luke Skywalker to play the Joker? The fans will lose their minds!\u2019\u201d Hamill said. \u201cI was so sure that I couldn\u2019t be cast. I was completely relaxed. A lot of times there\u2019s performance anxiety because you want the part. Here, I knew I couldn\u2019t get the part so, who cares? I drove out of the parking lot thinking, \u2018That\u2019s the best Joker they\u2019ll ever hear, and it\u2019s too bad they can\u2019t cast me.\u2019 And as soon as they did cast me, it reversed. I was like, \u2018Oh no, I can\u2019t do this!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Impossible to Imagine Anyone Else as Joker in Batman: The Animated Series Now<\/p>\n

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Looking back, it\u2019s wild to think that Hamill was so sure he wouldn\u2019t be cast as the Joker. While icons like Nicholson and Ledger also left their mark on the role, there is just something about Hamill\u2019s Joker that can\u2019t be beat. Hamill brought a delightful, chaotic energy to the Joker that was both entertaining and terrifying in equal measure, embodying the best elements of the villain from the comic book page and molding them into something that is now as much a part of the character\u2019s lore as anything ever committed to print. And paired with Conroy\u2019s Batman, there\u2019s simply not another Batman\/Joker duo that\u2019s that perfect.<\/p>\n

Outside of him just being perfectly suited for the Joker, Hamill had already portrayed a DC villain. Hamill played Jesse James\/Trickster<\/a> on the short-lived live action The Flash series that aired on CBS following the success of Michael Keaton\u2019s Batman, though Hamill has previously said he doesn\u2019t think his work as the Trickster helped him<\/a> get in the door to even try for the Joker. It does make his belief that the Joker was out of reach a bit more interesting \u2013 and his casting a bit more satisfying.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also interesting that Hamill\u2019s belief that he could never get the role is probably a large part of what actually helped him be cast. As Hamill himself noted, he went into his audition confident and calm. He had no expectation that he could win the part so he went for it in the most relaxed and pure way possible. This likely gave those in charge of the decision a chance to see the most authentic version of what Hamill could bring to the role and to the series and, in turn, probably made it impossible for anyone else to come even close. And for that, a whole generation of Batman fans are grateful.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While there are a lot of villains in the realm of comic book entertainment, there are none as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":315797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[158807,171,96075,20427,53,2469,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-315796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-batman-the-animated-series","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-joker","11":"tag-mark-hamill","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-regular-feature","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115400430799847571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}