If it’s a third article about Robert Pattinson being cast as Batman in the upcoming reboot you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place! While official word has still yet to come down from Warner Bros. (which will necessitate a fourth story, natch), the road to Battinson has actually been pretty short and straightforward, and now writer/director Matt Reeves is chiming in.

We’ve known since January of this year that Ben Affleck was vacating the role of Batman in The Batman, which has had War for the Planet of the Apes filmmaker Matt Reeves attached to write and direct since Affleck departed the director’s chair in 2017. While Affleck’s casting departure was only made public in January, it had been rumored for months, which means Reeves and the folks at Warner Bros. were no doubt looking at a number of actors to fill the role.

The Batman script focuses on a younger Batman than Affleck’s grizzled take seen in Batman v Superman and Justice League and indeed is reported to have zero connectivity with those two Zack Snyder films. So what we have here is a clean slate, and to that end Reeves and Warner Bros. could think big about the casting. Instead of shortlist after shortlist being reported as actors went through the sweepstakes of trying to earn the role, Variety reported on May 16th that the role was Pattinson’s. The other trades followed up with less firm casting, noting that Pattinson was simply at the top of a shortlist that also included Nicholas Hoult and Armie Hammer, but just last week Pattinson closed his deal to star as the Caped Crusader after a round of screentests (Hoult also screentested for the role, and by most accounts he was Pattinson’s top competition to win the part).

So Pattinson has reportedly closed his deal to star, and Reeves took to Twitter to share a gif of Pattinson from the actor’s stirring role in the 2017 critical darling Good Time along with some bat emojis. So yeah, not a lot to go on here, but this is Batman news we’re talking about, and it is the first time the director has publicly commented on the casting of Pattinson—even if that comment is simply emojis and a gif.

But the prime choice in gif is a reminder that Pattinson is a terrific actor with tremendous range, so those who only know him from the Twilight franchise would do well to check out films like Good Time, The Lost City of Z, and The Rover to see Pattinson put his chops on full display. He’s also earning raves for his work in The Witch director Robert Eggers’ new film The Lighthouse, which opens later this year and co-stars Willem Dafoe. Pattinson is next set to shoot Christopher Nolan’s new film Tenet, which is why filming on The Batman has been delayed slightly to early 2020.

So enjoy Reeves’ Twitter reaction below, and let the fan casting for the villain roles begin. The Batman is scheduled to hit theaters on June 25, 2021.

For more on The Batman, click on links to our recent coverage below:

good-time-image-rob-pattinson-1
Image via A24
good-time-robert-pattinson-2
Image via A24
lost-city-of-z-robert-pattinson
Image via Amazon Studios