Creature Commandos has a lot riding on it as it is the first project of the new DC Universe, and the people behind the show know it.

Warner Bros. Animation executive producer Rick Morales and EVP of special programming Peter Girardi appeared at the SCAD Animation Fest 2024 and shared a lot of information about the upcoming Creature Commandos series.

Peter Girardi: I had been working with Peter Safran and James Gunn for a while, even before they came over to run DC, and James loves these lesser-known underdog characters - think about the Guardians, right? Especially the more fantastical characters like these monsters and Commandos. I also think it was a great way to onboard a little bit and get his kind of particular POV flavor right out of the gate with animation. James hasn't done this kind of animation before. Clearly, in all of his films, there's a ton of VFX, which is a different form of animation. But I think this kind of misfit team that pulls together, that has to learn how to become a family, nobody really is better at it than he is.

Rick Morales: I think he even said it was a little taste test or small bite of the universe before Superman is the main course. You know what I mean?

Peter Girardi: And there are characters in the series that show up in the live action universe as well. So, the plan really is to have a larger continuity between all the different kinds of mediums, which is great.

Considering that these characters may also appear in live-action projects, plans had to be made for how the designs would be transferred between mediums.

Rick Morales: We saw some stuff. We saw some stuff they were working on.

Peter Girardi: And it went the other way too, with the designs that [Rick Morales] had done for Rick Flag.

Rick Morales: Yeah, there was a little bit of back and forth so that we could reference each other if [Gunn] had stuff that was happening. I remember my favorite moment was when we were recording Frank Grillo and doing some ADR with him. He finally saw Rick Flag in this show and was like, 'Oh my God, I love that hair. Can I take a picture of it, and when I'm back on set, I want to have him do it just like that.' I was like, 'That's awesome, man. Go for it.'

There was definitely a little bit of back and forth there. James Gunn, he really is involved, so he's overseeing this stuff. We are showing designs to him, and we're showing animatics to him, and all that stuff. So he knows when there's something, even if we're not aware. He's like, 'Oh no, no, no, can't do that because this is going to happen.'

The full cast of the series includes Indira Varma (Obi-Wan Kenobi) as the main protagonist of the series, Bride of Frankenstein. She will be joined by Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., David Harbour (Stranger Things, Black Widow) as Eric Frankenstein, Zoe Chao (Your Place or Mine) as Nina Mazursky, Sean Gunn as G.I. Robot & Weasel, Alan Tudyk (Doom Patrol) as Doctor Phosphorous, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, and Anya Chalotra as Circe.

As James Gunn has said previously in his role as co-chair of DC Studios, actors cast in this series will play their roles "across all media." This means that should they appear in live-action productions or video games, you can expect to hear the same voices. This plan has been confirmed with the news that Grillo will appear as Rick Flag Sr. in Peacemaker season 2.

Creature Commandos will debut on Max on Dec. 5.