We live in a society. And that society likes to make sequels to successful films. As such, it shouldn’t be too surprising that rumors of a sequel to Joker began swirling the moment the film became the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever and picked up a slew of awards nominations. The murmurs of a Joker 2 have died down a bit, and now Joaquin Phoenix, the man who played Joker, has reiterated that he’s entirely unsure if a sequel could even happen.
Speaking to The Playlist, Phoenix, who received an Oscar nod for his performance, said he was open to making Joker 2 and ideas were out there but he wasn’t sure it would ever happen. “I mean, I dunno,” he bluntly admitted. “From when we were shooting, we started to — you know, uhh, this is an interesting guy. There are some things we could do with this guy and could [explore] further. But as to whether we actually will? I don’t know.”
In the aftermath of the film’s $1.074 billion global boss office, director Todd Phillips was said to be in talks to helm a Joker 2 and even possibly help make more “gritty” DC films. Nothing ever came of that, however, and it sounds like nothing will if Phoenix’s ambivalence is any indication. It’s hard to argue that there aren’t more places that the film’s Joker could go, especially with the ill-advised Batman tease at the end. In any case, better for Phoenix to get another crack at it than Jared Leto.
Meanwhile, Batman will be getting his own gritty take soon as the much-delayed The Batman is set to hit in March.
