Academy Award nominee Colin Farrell has opened up about his return in Matt Reeves’ long-awaited DC sequel, The Batman Part II. The movie is still slated to premiere in theaters on October 1, 2027, more than five years after the first installment was released.
What was Colin Farrell’s The Batman Part II update?
During a recent interview with THR, Farrell confirmed that he had already read the screenplay for The Batman Part II, which was co-written by Reeves and Mattson Tomlin. He admitted that his appearance in the sequel will be much shorter compared to the first installment.
“I’ve got an even smaller role in this one,” he said. “But I’m OK with that…I’ve read the script, from start to finish, and I can’t say much about it. But it’s deeper, scarier, the stakes are bigger. I’m really excited to see it.”
For his leading performance in the HBO miniseries The Penguin, Farrell won an Emmy Award for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television. Despite the show’s critical success, HBO and DC Studios haven’t made any announcements about its potential future.
The Batman Part II will be directed by Reeves, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tomlin, based on the DC characters created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Further details about its plot and new characters are still being kept under wraps. The Twilight Saga star Robert Pattinson will be reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/The Batman, along with Andy Serkis as Alfred and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon. Production is expected to start at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London, UK, on January 1, 2026.
Greg Nicotero teases a Jason Voorhees-inspired zombie on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Na Hong-jin’s alien invasion movie gets a poster, and Matt Reeves teases new ground for Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight in The Batman, Part II. Spoilers, away!
Mobile Suit Gundam
The latest edition of Jeff Sneider’s newsletter, the InSneider, alleges that Legendary is eyeing singer Benson Boone to join the cast of its adaptation of the mecha anime legend, in an undisclosed role alongside the previously rumored Sydney Sweeney. It would mark Boone’s feature debut.
The Batman, Part II
Speaking with THR, Matt Reeves stated The Batman, Part II, is “so much a detective story” and does “things” for the character that have “never been done this way before.”
Because of what the first movie was and what [The Batman: Part 2] is, which is so much a detective story, the idea of trying to protect the secrets of the movie is super important because it’s a mystery. That would be an extra level of heartbreak if that part of it started getting out.
You wanna keep the surprise so the fans can have the fun experience that I always love going to the movies, which was to go and be surprised. He’s Batman, so if he [Robert Pattinson] doesn’t like it, not good. So, I was super excited because I thought that he really would [like it] because the things that it does for his character, for Batman, and for Bruce has never been done before in this way.
And I had a feeling he would respond in this way, the fact that he did was incredibly encouraging. And of course, I’m nervous every time anyone reads it because we put all this passion into it but you hope people connect to what you’re trying to do.
The Astronaut
Deadline reports Vertical has acquired the U.S. rights to The Astronaut, a sci-fi/thriller starring Kate Mara, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Luna, Ivana Milicevic, and singer-actress Macy Gray. The story concerns astronaut Sam Walker (Mara) as she’s “found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. General William Harris (Fishburne) arranges for her to be placed under intense NASA surveillance in a high-security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.”
Hatchet 5
According to Kane Hodder at Silver Scream Con, there’s a “decent chance” a fifth Hatchet movie will happen, as director Adam Green has an “amazing” idea for a new installment.
I think there’s a decent chance it happens, but nothing’s planned yet. All I know is that Adam has an idea, if it ever happens, of the setting, and I think it would be amazing if we did that. And it’s not space!
Three brothers “descend into a psychedelic hellscape” after building their own TARDIS in the trailer for She Loved Blossoms More.
The Penguin
Matt Reeves also confirmed “discussions” are underway for a potential second season of The Penguin.
We’re in discussions. [Showrunner] Lauren [Lefranc] is thinking hard and we’re talking, so we’ll see. We love the show, and we think our cast is so incredible. The work that Lauren and the writers did was incredible. Our passion was in it, but never in our wildest dreams could we imagine it would have been received in the way that it was.
According to Bloody-Disgusting, Greg Nicotero revealed the third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon will include a zombie inspired by Jason Voorhees at Silver Scream Con.
We all hoped that HBO’s The Penguin would be good but did anyone actually expect it to be this good? The people behind the scenes did and now, with the show enjoying success, it could mean just the beginning for Batman’s bad guys appearing on HBO.
“I can tell you this, we would love to be able to do more. But I can also say that we are already talking to HBO about [more],” executive producer Matt Reeves told the Wrap. “The opportunity of being able to then on HBO, go and explore characters that wouldn’t be able to have that kind of real estate creatively, as we were able to do with Oz [Cobb, Colin Farrell’s character], that is something that we are talking to HBO about. They’re very excited about that idea. That’s something that we really, really hope we’re going to be able to do.”
“We’ve got The Batman. We’ve got The Penguin. And who knows what’s next,” Reeves added.
What’s actually next is The Batman Part II which Reeves is prepping for a 2025 shoot and 2026 release. That film will continue the story of The Penguin much like The Penguin continued the story of The Batman and Reeves admits making sure it all fit was difficult.
“It’s this thing where you’re trying to organize it in such a way that the movie hands off to the show,” Reeves said. “We change point-of-view. We do something we can’t have any room really to do at this level in the movies, go on a long-form, deep-dive into Oz’s character, but then hand back off to the next movie and have him enter that story. There was a little bit of air traffic control to manage that, but all of it was to create the space then that would allow us to dig deeply into that character in the way that [showrunner] Lauren [LeFranc] did.”
All of which is to say, if a second Bat-villain show would happen, it seems like it would happen after The Batman Part II. That assumption makes speculation more difficult because, though we know for sure Penguin is in the film, and we assume Riddler (Paul Dano), Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), and Joker (Barry Keoghan) are in it too, Reeves is sure to introduce new villains as well. And Batman certainly has plenty of those to go around.
You have to imagine, though, if HBO is interested in exploring another Batman villain in long form, it would have to be one with name recognition. Since Penguin has his show and Riddler and Catwoman were explored in the first movie, who else is left? The company wouldn’t dare do a Joker show after what just happened with Joker: Folie à Deux would it? Is there anyone else big enough?
