Joker writer-director returns for Joker 2

In 2019, DC took comic book movies into uncharted territory by releasing an R-rated Joker movie, one that took place outside the DC Extended Universe continuity. Fortunately, the risk more than paid off and left Warner Bros. laughing all the way to the bank. In fact, it was the first-ever R-rated movie to cross the elusive $1 billion mark! There’s been talk of a sequel ever since the movie released, but no major news has surfaced… until now.

A new report suggests that director Todd Phillips has signed on the dotted line to pen the script for Joker 2! This new comes from reputable industry source The Hollywood Reporter, which mentions it in an article about Hollywood’s most powerful lawyers. “Todd Phillips struck a deal to co-write the next Joker installment,” it reads.

Unfortunately, that’s the only hint we have at the moment. While it’s not much, it at least confirms that the sequel is further ahead in development than anyone thought. The news certainly caught fans by surprise; you need only look Twitter for proof of that. Still, at the moment we have a lot more questions than answers. For instance, we do not know whether Scott Silver — the co-writer for the first movie — will return for the sequel.

Would a sequel to Joker ruin the ambiguity of the first film?

In addition, the first movie very much felt like a standalone work. The ending could be interpreted in multiple different ways. How much of the movie really happened and how much is part of Arthur Fleck’s deranged imagination? It depends on who you ask.

According to cinematographer Lawrence Sher, the movie deliberately raised those kinds of questions, although some of them were settled. “We wanted to make the interpretation of the real versus what’s not real, a part of the viewer’s experience,” he told Slash Film. “For instance, his relationship to Sophie is a fantasy to him. Some people have asked me, ‘Was she killed?’ [Director Todd Phillips] makes it clear she wasn’t killed. ”

Still, this presents issues for a sequel. If many viewers interpreted it in different ways, which is the “right” way for the follow-up? They could run the risk of undoing some of the ambiguous elements of the first movie. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what they have in store.

Of course, any sequel to Joker would need Joaquin Phoenix back in the title role. Phoenix’s portrayal of the classic Batman villain is right up there with the very best, if not the greatest of all time. In 2020, he took home the Oscar for Best Actor due to his stellar portrayal of the character.

It’ll be interesting to see how Joker 2 develops. Currently, there is no release date set.

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