Matt Reeves Provides Updates on When We Can Expect 'The Batman 2' and 'The Penguin' Series

by Darian Scalamoni

    It's without a doubt that Matt Reeves' take on The Batman was the biggest and best comic book movie of 2022. Additionally, DC had a pretty massive year that also included the first season of Peacemaker for HBO Max, setting the tone for the comic book brand to experiment with series that cross over into their film universe as well. One such series that was announced for HBO Max was the solo series, The Penguin that is gearing towards production with recent Golden Globe winner, Colin Farrell in tow to return as the Gotham City gangster. 

    In an exclusive interview with Matt Reeves, Collider managed to get some answers out of the filmmaker regarding an update on the sequel film as well as the upcoming series surrounding the iconic Batman villain. When asked if the director was actively working on any projects, he first acted coy but followed up the question with this answer, "I'm not going to answer that question, but we are working on a movie. I'll put it that way. We're deep in it and my partner and I are writing, Mattson and I are writing, and it's really exciting, and I'm really excited about what we're doing." Reeves is referring to his co-writer on the first film, Mattson Tomlin in the quote further detailing that the pair are in the scriptwriting phase of development in regard to The Batman 2. That means we can likely expect the film to release no sooner than 2024 at the earliest, but more likely a 2025 release. He also added that he wants Pattinson's take on Bruce Wayne to be the central focus of his "BatVerse" because though he has a true rogues gallery of villains in the comics, Batman seemingly always takes a back seat due to the iconic adversaries he faces off with on screen.

   Reeves revealed that he's "really excited" to work alongside Robert Pattinson again, and though there were rumors of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe having an impact on what Reeves has developed so far, it seems as of now that this corner of DC will remain synonymous with his ideas and vision. He's also scheduled to meet with Gunn and Safran in the next few weeks: "They [Gunn and Safran] have been great. We're actually supposed to meet in the next few weeks because they want to talk to me about the broad plan, and then they want to hear the BatVerse plan. We're just getting together to talk about all of that. Look, I'm excited to hear what they're going to do. The BatVerse thing, as James has said, and as Peter has said, is kind of its own thing they're letting us do." It seems that the Elseworlds-type of stories that Gunn alluded to on Twitter may be true in the case of Reeves' vision for the Batman characters. 

    With that, Reeves' BatVerse is chugging along with active development with multiple projects including The Penguin series for HBO Max. The series will be a limited series only expected to be one season, however, it seems crucial viewing as it will lead right into The Batman sequel, according to the director's interview with Collider. "We are very, very soon going to start shooting The Penguin with Colin. That is super exciting. There's actually a whole little fabric of things we're wanting to do, the way we're doing with Penguin and how that comes back into how that will lead into the sequel, and what that sequel is going to be." Farrell starred as Cobblepot in the film serving as the right-hand man to mob boss, Carmine Falcone (played by John Turturro). The series is rumored to begin production in February and will also star Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone.

    Though these are all the details we were able to gather here at Cinema Wave, there have also been rumors that Reeves has been working on a series set in Arkham Asylum as well which would air on either HBO or HBO Max. With the expansive universe being laid out from a creative such as Reeves as well as us nearing news from Gunn and Safran's "10-year plan," it's a great time to be a DC fan.