I Still Can’t Get Over The Fact That One Of The Biggest Joker Actors Of All Time Genuinely Believed They Couldn’t Be Cast In The Role During Their DC Audition

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Decades after one of the most iconic Joker castings of all time became reality, I genuinely can"t get over the idea that the actor in question was basically convinced they couldn"t get the DC role. The Joker has long been Batman"s most famous and most popular villain, with comics, movies, shows and more all joining together to consistently reinforce the character"s prominence in superhero history. While a big part of this reputation is naturally the many excellent comic stories the Joker has starred in, the talented roster of actors to have played the Joker also play a big factor.
Across the course of time, countless actors have brought their a-game to the task of bringing the Clown Prince Of Crime to life, with over a hundred different DC releases having their own on-screen depiction of the Joker. With that said, some of these performances stand out more than others - especially since a considerable number of these depictions were all played by the same person. Given how much of a colossal presence said actor has been in DC over the years, I still find it genuinely staggering they were almost sure they simply couldn"t be cast in the role.
Why Mark Hamill Didn't Believe He Would Be Cast As Batman: The Animated Series' Joker Mark Hamill Thought Other Factors Would Prevent Him From Being The Joker Close Having already demonstrated his acting talents as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars for some time before the cast of Batman: The Animated Series was assembled, it"s easy to think that Mark Hamill"s prowess and star power made him a shoo-in for the Joker role in the DC show when he came to audition for it. However, Hamill himself has confirmed he was almost sure he wouldn"t be able to get the role, in no small part because of his prior history on-screen - something that feels especially surreal given how iconic the sci-fi movies remain to this day.
In a 2024 interview with Wired, the actor delved into his initial conviction that he was "so sure he wouldn"t be cast", and the confidence this ironically gave him in the audition itself. Hamill explained that he"d seen the initial outcry about Michael Keaton being the then-newest live-action Batman casting - with complaints that this was so different to the roles the actor was associated with at the time - that he became sure that his role as the hero Luke Skywalker would similarly block him from taking on the role of one of the most famous supervillains of all time.
In a unique twist of fate, Hamill also stated that he was fully relaxed in the audition, because "I knew I couldn"t get the part, so who cares? And I drove out of the parking lot thinking "that"s the best Joker they"ll ever hear, and it"s too bad they can"t cast me". And as soon as they did cast me, that reversed - I was like "oh no, I can"t do this!"" As it stands, the actor thinking the role was essentially impossible for him to get may have actively helped his chances - which is a surreal origin story to consider for one of the greatest DC actors of all time.
Mark Hamill's Comments About His Joker Audition Seem Truly Wild In 2025 Mark Hamill's Joker History Makes The Idea He Thought It Would Initially Be Impossible To Be Cast As The Character Seem Surreal Close 33 years after Batman: The Animated Series debuted its first episode - and one year after Hamill"s Joker appeared in Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths - Part Three, which he has stated to be his final in the role - the idea of anyone other than Hamill playing the show"s Joker seems genuinely bizarre to me. While Mark Hamill is by no means the only talented actor to play the villain, the specific kind of energy, charisma, and chaos he gave to the antagonist plays a huge part in both the character"s success, and the success of Batman: The Animated Series itself.
The success of Batman: The Animated Series paid colossal dividends to DC itself by the show changing much of the face of Batman lore for the rest of time to come - defining characters like Mister Freeze and introducing Harley Quinn before her arrival in the comics. Equally crucially, this also led to a considerable roster of follow-up appearances of Hamill as the Joker, making him into one of the most definitive and long-standing actors to play the role.
The idea this could have not happened essentially because Mark Hamill had already shown himself to be a promising actor seems surreal, though Hamill"s fear certainly makes sense given a similar reaction to Keaton"s casting appeared when Robert Pattinson got the role for The Batman, showing how this kind of idea still exists to a degree. That said, much as is the case for Keaton and Pattinson"s Caped Crusader castings, I couldn"t be more grateful that any potential concerns surrounding casting Luke Skywalker as an unhinged clown didn"t impede this part of DC history from becoming reality in the end.
I'm Convinced The Entire Of DC Would Be Worse Off If Mark Hamill Wasn't Cast As The Joker Mark Hamill's Talented Joker Performances Really Helped Define The Character As One Of DC's Best Close Mark Hamill"s role as the Joker is arguably one of the most important DC castings of all time, being up there with Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson"s viewer-defining depictions of Batman"s nemesis. Indeed, as the actor who has played Joker for the longest - and in such a wide range of releases, being in both movies and shows alike, as well as lending his voice to the live-action Joker seen in Birds Of Prey - the impact Mark Hamill has had on DC and its most popular villain is pretty hard to overstate, since he gave stellar Joker performances for actual decades.
Being able to look back at the origin of Hamill"s DC history and see that things weren"t always set in stone makes it all the more special, if only because we get to be in the timeline where Mark Hamill did get cast as the Joker for Batman: The Animated Series and then continued to absolutely nail the role even after. The fact Hamill"s Joker performances ran on for longer than the show is a testament to Hamill"s talent for playing the iconic villain, and will no doubt remain a crucial cornerstone of DC history for countless years to come.

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