A sequel to 2019’s Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix is seemingly finally in the works, with a script co-written by director Todd Phillips (who also co-wrote the first film). The news was published discreetly by The Hollywood Reporter, in the middle of a list of Hollywood’s most powerful lawyers.
While THR’s list is filled mostly with descriptions of the lawyers, their clients, and the important projects they helped to handle, a single line could have officially confirmed that Joker is getting a sequel. In the section dedicated to lawyer Warren Dern, we can read that his client "Todd Phillips struck a deal to co-write the next Joker installment." Collider has as of now received no official comment on the news from any representatives at Warner Bros.
Drawing a lot of inspiration from Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Joker brought a unique vision of the famous Batman villain to the screens, set in a grounded version of Gotham City. Even if Phillips’ version of the Joker was slightly more divisive, the movie was a huge box office success, surpassing the $ 1 billion mark worldwide. A sequel, then, makes a lot of commercial sense for Warner Bros.
Nevertheless, a lot of what makes Joker such a fascinating experiment is the way it highlights the character before his transformation into a psychopath. Stripped from all the Batman mythology, the movie can shine on its own. A sequel would need to approach the Joker's life of crime with caution, given that bringing back all the usual comic book stories would drastically change the tone of the film.
With no official comment from Warner Bros. as of this reporting, stay tuned to Collider for any future news about this potential project, whether a carefully-handed sequel or the confirmation that Joker is indeed a standalone movie after all.