Cartoon Network is set to air a series of Batman Beyond shorts on their DC Nation block sometime this year in wake of the 75th anniversary for the Caped Crusader. These shorts will have the usual one-minute run time and will feature Terry McGinnis in various situations. This could be Cartoon Network & WB testing the waters with the Batman Beyond franchise again, previously Cartoon Network admitted that the Teen Titans shorts used from 2012-2013 were pilots to see if fan demand for a continuation was still out there, as expected the shorts were successful and spawned development on Teen Titans Go! which premiered last April maintaining strong ratings since the pilot.

It would make sense for Cartoon Network to look for alternative options for an animated Batman series after the (likely) cancelled Beware the Batman became a ratings failure.  There’s still no word on what’s happening with the series, when we last spoke to Cartoon Network earlier this month they stated that January’s schedule wasn’t finalized and that its rumored return was still possible. However with only one Saturday remaining for this month, Beware the Batman returning is pretty dead in the water as far as January goes. At last year’s New York Comi-Con a panelist for the Justice League: War panel stated that Batman creator Bruce Timm had an idea for a Batman Beyond animated film that would keep the franchise in WB & DC’s lime light for a number of years.

If the upcoming shorts are popular enough then we could see a sequel series coming not soon afterwards. WB admitted back in 2001 that a fourth season for Batman Beyond was in the works, but it was cancelled indefinitely for some reason or another. Rather a possible sequel series will continue on the original’s spirit or be a complete reboot remains to be seen, but hopefully the shorts spark interest for a return to the futuristic Batman franchise.