The world's greatest detective will remain on the case: Robert Pattinson is officially set to reprise his role as the Caped Crusader for a follow-up to The Batman, Warner Bros. announced at CinemaCon on Tuesday, April 26. Matt Reeves will return to write and direct the sequel.
"I'm excited to jump back into this world for the next chapter," the filmmaker teased, thanking attendees for their "faith and enthusiasm" without which, Reeves said, "We couldn't have gotten here."
Warner Bros. has yet to confirm whether Zoë Kravitz's Selina Kyle will appear in the sequel, having left Gotham for Blüdhaven at the end of The Batman, nor has the studio indicated whether Andy Serkis' Alfred or Jeffery Wright's James Gordon will be back, though both seem likely. As for Paul Dano's Riddler and his new prison pal, Barry Keoghan's would-be Joker, how they factor into the next story remains to be seen.
Reeves' inaugural outing was intentionally not an origin story about Batman — who is already in his second year of vigilantism — but instead an origin story for Bruce Wayne, who is forced to contend with the sins of his past and ultimately abandon his path of vengeance. In the end, Bruce realizes, he can do more for Gotham as a symbol of hope.
"I knew it could not be an origin tale," Reeves told A.frame about crafting The Batman. "When you look at the series of movies, the origin tale is almost always the one where Batman's arc is the strongest because, of course, that's a very powerful story. But I still wanted Batman's arc to be the powerful part of this movie, so I thought I could put him on the trail of a story that is kind of describing the history of Gotham — and came back to his origins unexpectedly — and became very personal."
In addition to The Batman 2 — which has yet to receive a release date — Reeves will serve as executive producer on The Penguin, HBO Max's upcoming limited series in which Colin Farrell reprises his role as Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot as he rises through the ranks to become the eponymous Gotham supervillain.
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