DC's Joker 2 Filming Start Revealed

Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav is going Gaga over Joker: Folie à Deux. During the company's third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Zaslav revealed DC's Joker sequel begins filming before the end of the year. Director Todd Phillips is returning for the musical follow-up to his 2019 stand-alone that became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever at $1.07 billion. Joker received 11 Academy Award nominations and won two, including Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix, who is paired with Academy Award winner Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. On the call, Zaslav confirmed Phillips starts filming the highly-anticipated Joker 2 in December with "incredible on-screen talent" Phoenix and Gaga.

Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver penned the script for the sequel, which is set outside of the DC Universe under the supervision of James Gunn and Peter Safran as of November 1st. Like Matt Reeves with The Batman, also set in its own separate continuity, Phillips will report to Warner Bros. Pictures chairs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca as Gunn and Safran plot out the DCU home to Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam and Henry Cavill's Superman.

When Is Joker 2 Coming Out?

In August, WBD dated Joker: Folie à Deux for October 4th, 2024, exactly five years after Joker was released in theaters.

Plot details remain under wraps, but it's been reported the sequel takes place largely in Arkham Asylum, the psychiatric hospital for Gotham City's criminally insane. The title translates to "shared psychosis," or a "delusion or mental illness shared by two people in close association," hinting at the relationship between Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) and Harleen Quinzel — better known as the Joker's future partner-in-crime, Harley Quinn.

Joker: Folie à Deux Cast

Along with Phoenix and Gaga, the Joker 2 cast includes Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich), Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin), and Harry Lawtey (Industry) in undisclosed roles. Zazie Beetz, who played Arthur's neighbor Sophie Dumond in the first film, is reprising her role.

2019's Joker centered around the iconic arch-nemesis of Batman and was an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Set in early 1980s Gotham City, the gritty character study and exploration of Arthur Fleck, a stand-up comedian disregarded by society, was described by Warner Bros. as "a broader cautionary tale" about madness.

Joker: Folie à Deux opens in theaters October 4th, 2024.

Upcoming DC Studios films include Shazam! Fury of the Gods (March 17th, 2023), The Flash (June 23rd, 2023), Blue Beetle (August 18th, 2023), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December 25th, 2023), Wonder Woman 3 (TBA), and The Batman 2 (TBA).