Young Justice co-showrunners Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti shared the rationale behind Season 4's focus on character-driven story arcs.
Weisman and Vietti discussed their approach to the DC animated series' fourth season, Young Justice: Phantoms, in a fan Q&A posted on the official DC Comics blog. "We felt it was time -- after two seasons where the plot drove most of our choices -- to get back to the core characters of our series and see where each one was in their lives, a decade after we first met them," Weisman said. "In terms of the order of the arcs, the decision there was a combination of the overarching plot of the season and a desire to mix things up so that no two arcs in a row felt too similar."
Vietti added that Young Justice: Phantoms' greater emphasis on character-over-plot-driven storytelling was also motivated by the desire to give each season its own identity. "We've also tried to make each season feel unique by changing the overall story structures each time. Trying to break the mold a bit for each season keeps us on our toes creatively and hopefully defies audience expectations to some degree."
Weisman and Vietti went on to discuss something else that helped make Young Justice's early seasons different from those released more recently: DC ruling certain characters off-limits. According to the duo, DC told them not to include Darkseid, Wonder Girls Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark and the Ted Kord incarnation of Blue Beetle in their scripts for Season 1. "We have no idea why those particular characters were off-limits," Weisman said. "And obviously those restrictions were eventually lifted, as all four have since appeared in the series. Since then, there have been no other characters that were declared off-limits."
Young Justice premiered in November 2010 on Cartoon Network. The first season introduced the show's original core cast of junior superheroes: Dick Grayson/Robin (later Nightwing), Kaldur'ahm/Aqualad (later Aquaman), Wally West/Kid Flash, Conner Kent/Superboy, Megan Morse/Miss Martian and Artemis Crock/Tigress. Later on, Zatanna Zatara and Raquel Ervin/Rocket would join, and Phantoms' character arcs spotlight each of these original members, save for Wally West.
Despite its focus on character-driven arcs, Phantoms does follow the same storytelling methods of the show's previous seasons. The latest season kicked off with another time jump after Season 3, something that was done across all four seasons. Also, like its immediate predecessor, Young Justice Season 4 is split into two parts, with Part 2 premiering on Mar. 31, 2022 after a mid-season break.
Young Justice: Phantoms is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes arriving on Thursdays.
Source: DC Comics