‘Young Justice’ Won’t Be Returning for Season 5!!

Warner Bros. Discovery‘s current restructuring of their DC properties will reportedly lead to the cancelling of Young Justice, as the animated series is not expected to return for a fifth season. An insider report from TV Line underlines HBO Max had only ordered a single season of the beloved animated show, Young Justice: Phantoms, and plans haven’t changed since June’s season finale.

The series’ canceling would not be the first time that Warner Bros. ignored the unquestionable brilliance of Young Justice. Created by Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman, the series is loosely based on DC’s super team, initially formed by sidekicks such as Robin (voiced by Jesse McCartney), Kid-Flash (voiced by Jason Spisak), and Aqualad (voiced by Khary Payton). After two successful seasons featuring dozens of layered characters involved in complex storylines, the show was unfortunately canceled in 2013. Then, thanks to a prolonged fan campaign, Young Justice returned for a third season, Outsiders, in 2019. The hype surrounding Young Justice allowed the series to move to HBO Max with a fourth season, Phantoms, which concluded last June. Since then, fans have been wondering if the series would be deservedly renewed.

The world is an unfair place, though, as Young Justice might not return. With everything the series faced in the last decade, some fans could still be hopeful that HBO Max is only taking its time before announcing the fifth season. However, the streaming platform is currently going through a wave of canceling as Warner Bros. Discovery tries to cut down costs during their merging. The IP most affected by the changes is DC, with projects such as Batgirl being shelved just months before release and after $90 million were already spent in production. So, if HBO Max doesn’t have plans for Season 5 of Young Justice, it seems unlikely the series will get a renewal amidst the turmoil.

Besides Batgirl, the Supergirl and Wonder Twins movies are reportedly never going into production. And while Birds of Prey Black Canary-focused spinoff starring Jurnee Smollett is still a go, the lack of official information makes us doubt it’ll be released. The Green Lantern live-action series is also alive and aiming for a 2024 release, and James Gunn will also move forward with Season 2 of Peacemaker. Finally, Blue Beetle also survived the cut. Even so, we should take any DC news with a grain of salt, as Warner Bros. Discovery has not yet revealed its 10-year plan for the DC Extended Universe, which will supposedly help them clean their house and move forward in a more orderly way.