The Batman Star Barry Keoghan Addresses Joker Future Following DC Rumors

The Batman introduced viewers to Barry Keoghan’s Joker in a short cameo scene, later releasing a longer deleted version, that started minds racing with what would be next for the Caped Crusader and the Clown Prince of Crime. Since then rumors have abounded about Joker’s return. One that made the rounds was that Keoghan’s Joker could be the villain of The Batman III, and get a series right before the movie to set him up. With the success of The Penguin, fans are looking for more from writer/director Matt Reeves The Batman-verse, and a Joker series would be perfect. Unfortunately, Keoghan had to shoot these rumors down in a recent interview with Josh Horowitz.

When asked about the Joker, Keoghan replied, “Again, you know, it’s iconic and to the people performing it, you know, it’s just iconic performances and it’s a big one. But I am going to say that, you know, if the opportunity came about, yes I’d love to explore and, given that opportunity, really dive into it. But, I’ve not been contacted and I’ve not heard anything so I can’t, yeah.”

This is a pretty definitive answer to whether Keoghan’s knows about any spin-offs or what the future of the Joker is. He goes on to talk about how much he enjoyed playing the Joker and the opportunity to work with Reeves and Rob Pattinson. Keoghan also had his own backstory in mind for the Joker, talks about the make-up process, and praises The Penguin.

It’s unfortunate that it seems like there are no plans for the Joker at this time, but that jibes with what we know about The Batman II. James Gunn revealed that the script for that movie isn’t done, putting the timeframe in question of when exactly fans will see the movie. With this in mind, it’s easy to see why there might not be any plans as of yet for what’s coming next with Keoghan’s Joker. While Reeves and company certainly have plans for the second movie at this time, it’s hard to make any definitive decisions that far into the future without a finished map. The Joker is a character with a special cinematic legacy – two people have won Academy Awards for playing the character – so Reeves and company definitely want to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s before they put him out there.

The Batman: Part II has a release date of October 2, 2026. The Batman and The Penguin are streaming on Max.