Matt Reeves Offers Update on THE BATMAN Sequel and Says It Will Tie Into The Penguin Spinoff Series
As Warner Bros. Discovery made all kinds of changes to the studio, HBO Max, and DC Studios, one thing they didn’t touch was the live-action Batman projects that are being developed by Matt Reeves. Now, Reeves is offering an update on his sequel to The Batman. During a recent interview with CB, he said:
"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. My partner and I are deep in it and I'm excited about what we're going to do."
We don’t really know what to expect from the story in The Batman sequel, but we now know that Colin Farrell’s The Penguin will be involved. Reeves has shared that not only will The Penguin series pick up right after the events of the first Batman movie, it will also directly set up the sequel. He told Collider:
"There's actually a whole little fabric of things we're wanting to do, the way we're doing with [the] Penguin and how that comes back into how that will lead into the sequel, and what that sequel is going to be.”
Reeves then went on to talk about his excitement for the future of the franchise that he and his creative team are building:
"There are some other things we have planned too. The BatVerse of what we're doing has me very, very excited, and I'm very passionate about it. So I'm excited.”
One of the other projects is a series that will be set in Arkham Asylum. That project is being developed by The Staircase creator Antonio Campos, and it’s been described as “like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham.”
As for The Penguin series, during a previous interview with Farrell, he shared that he read the first script and teased what we can expect from the opening scene of the series, saying it picks up shortly after the events of The Batman:
“Gotham is still somewhat underwater. I read the first script for the first episode, and it opens up with my feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office. Even just that alone, I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, jeez.’”
The show has been described as a “Scarface-like” series that will see the rise of the villain in the criminal underworld of Gotham City.
Lauren LeFranc will serve as writer and showrunner on the series, and he previously said, “I have long been a fan of the world of ‘The Batman,’ and Matt’s film is such a powerful and bold entry into the canon. I am excited and humbled to continue telling stories in the grimy world of Gotham City – and what better excuse to channel my inner villain than to tell the story of Oswald Cobblepot? I am thrilled to work with Colin, Matt, Dylan, 6th & Idaho, Warners, and HBO Max as we work to bring this story to the screen.”
It’s going to be interesting and cool to see how this world continues to be built out with TV shows and films.