The Batman Part II: Barry Keoghan Has Interesting Answer for Joker Return

2022’s The Batman was chock-full of surprises, delivering a fresh new take on the mythos of DC’s Dark Knight. A sequel to the film is currently in the works, The Batman Part II, with a release date set for the fall of 2025. While nothing is confirmed outright, the events of The Batman have certainly led fans to believe that Barry Keoghan will reprise his role as The Joker, after the film’s ending showed him and Edward Nygma / The Riddler (Paul Dano) meeting while in Arkham Asylum. In a recent interview with ETalk, Keoghan coyly addressed the idea of him appearing in The Batman Part II, without confirming anything outright.

“I can’t really say anything about that, my man,” Keoghan explained. “But it would be exciting, wouldn’t it? To see The Joker come to life again.”

Will There Be a The Batman Sequel?

Matt Reeves is currently working on a sequel to The Batman, which he will direct and co-write with Robert Pattinson back in the titular role. Plot details regarding the project are currently a mystery, but Reeves has expressed excitement about working on the script.

“I mean, I can’t give an update on that in terms of specifics, except to tell you that we are hard at work on the script,” Reeves told ComicBook.com in an interview earlier this year. “My partner and I are deep in it and I’m excited about what we’re going to do.”

Is The Batman Getting a Spinoff?

In addition to the proper sequel, the saga of The Batman is set to be expanded upon with The Penguin, a Max-exclusive series centered around Colin Farrell’s The Penguin. The series is confirmed to be making its debut on the streaming platform at some point in 2024, with an ensemble cast that also includes Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, as well as Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O’Connell.

“I don’t know that it’s necessarily tentpole fatigue as much as it is a sameness of storytelling,” HBO executive Casey Bloys explained in a recent appearance. “I think the key, even within DC, is trying to tell different stories in different styles, to not try to do the same show over and over and over again. I would say Peacemaker is a very different show tonally than The Penguin. So, there’s not a uniformity to the storytelling and I think that helps. Unfortunately, Marvel, as good as their shows are, there’s probably been a lot of them. That’s one of the advantages we have at Warner Bros. is it’s not just one set of stories. There’s a lot of stories you can go to.”

Do you hope Barry Keoghan reprises his role as The Joker in The Batman Part II? What do you think of his new comments on the subject? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The Batman Part II is set to be released exclusively in theaters on October 3, 2025.