To call The Batman - Part II one of the most anticipated movies of 2027 would be an understatement. The DC Studios film has been in development since the first film made a splash on the box office back in 2022, with Matt Reeves' dark crime epic being praised for keeping moviegoing alive in the aftermath of the pandemic, but it's been a long time coming.
Production has finally commenced on the highly-anticipated DC sequel, with Robert Pattinson and the star-studded cast of the film kicking things off in the UK. Ahead of filming, Reeves took to social media to confirm the major cast members (who had already been reported to have joined) but fans couldn't help but notice that one major star was absent.
Barry Keoghan absent from The Batman 2 casting announcements
Shortly before filming commenced on The Batman - Part II, director Matt Reeves officially confirmed the full cast via a series of social media posts. It started by welcoming back stars Robert Pattinson (Batman / Bruce Wayne), Jeffrey Wright (Lieutenant Jim Gordon), Andy Serkis (Alfred Pennyworth), Colin Farrell (The Penguin / Oz Cobb), Jayme Lawson (Mayor Bella Reál), and Gil Perez-Abraham (Officer Martinez) before officially confirming the actors who were joining the cast in Scarlett Johansson (Gilda Dent), Sebastian Stan (Harvey Dent), Charles Dance (Christopher Dent), Sebastian Koch, and Brian Tyree Henry.
While the official casting announcements for the new cast members sent the internet into an even bigger meltdown than those of the returning cast (this marks the first time that anyone involved with The Batman - Part II had acknowledged the reports), fans couldn't help but notice one major name was absent from it - a major name that we all thought was supposed to appear in the movie. That name is, of course, Barry Keoghan.
Keoghan portrayed The Joker in the first film in what was undoubtedly a shocking cameo appearance towards the end of the movie when it was revealed that his cell was right next door to that of The Riddler's. He promised a potential friendship between the pair as his haunting laugh was heard echoing through the halls of Arkham Asylum. Keoghan also offered up a much clearer look at his Joker in a separate scene with Pattinson's Batman but that one was ultimately deleted from the final cut of the movie.
The star was expected to reprise his role in the sequel, which is what makes his apparent omission here all the more jarring. That's not to say that he's exited the whole Batman franchise, but it does - at least for the time being - suggest that he might not appear in the movie. The question is: Why?
As ComicBook.com points out, Keoghan is currently filming the four-film Beatles cinematic event biopic (in which he has been cast as Ringo Starr). The ambitious production has been filming since September 2025 and is expected to continue doing so until early 2027 (at the very earliest), which would seemingly make it impossible for the star to reprise his role as the Clown Prince of Crime in The Batman 2.
That doesn't necessarily rule out a cameo appearance but it probably does suggest that The Joker won't be a main villain in the sequel. And with that, it's entirely possible that Reeves' planned movie trilogy is setting up the iconic villain to be the "final boss" of the Epic Crime Saga that his franchise is exploring. It would certainly be unique for the first film to set this up via one scene, but if the sequel also features a moment or two of Keoghan's villain, it could effectively set the stage for him to become the ultimate Big Bad for the third installment.
While much of The Batman - Part II's plot has been kept under wraps, it's expected to focus heavily on the Dent family, which has understandably led fans to assume that we will be witnessing Harvey Dent's evolution into Two-Face - and potentially becoming the film's main villain. There is mounting evidence to suggest that this will be the case, we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.
It will be interesting to see if The Joker will be involved at all but, at this point in time, we'd say keep you expectations to a cameo.
The Batman - Part II arrives in movie theaters on October 1, 2027.
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