Five years is a long time to wait. The Batman opened in March 2022, grossed over $770 million globally, and set up a Gotham that felt genuinely different from every version that came before it. Then came the strikes. Then the rewrites. Then more delays. Now, as cameras finally begin rolling in London in June 2026, the question is no longer whether The Batman: Part II (2027) will get made. The question is what kind of film Matt Reeves has been sitting on for half a decade.
Based on the casting alone, the answer looks ambitious.
This piece covers everything confirmed about The Batman: Part II — the full cast, what we know about the plot, what the new additions suggest about where this story is heading, and the one question nobody has answered yet.
Quick Facts: The Batman: Part II
| Director: | Matt Reeves |
| Release Date: | 10/01/27 |
| Filming Start: | June 2026, London, England |
| Studio: | Warner Bros. / DC Elseworlds |
| Returning Cast: | Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Jayme Lawson, Gil Perez-Abraham |
| New Cast (confirmed as of May 2026): | Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, Charles Dance, Brian Tyree Henry, Sebastian Koch, Barry Keoghan |
| Where to Watch: | Not yet released. Theatrical October 1, 2027. |
| Title note: | Briefly listed as untitled in December 2024. The Batman: Part II remains the working title as of May 2026. |
The Returning Cast
All major returning cast members for The Batman: Part II were confirmed by director Matt Reeves via his social media GIF reveal campaign, which began on May 13, 2026.
Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Robert Pattinson returns as Bruce Wayne / Batman in The Batman: Part II, reprising the second-year, detective-focused version of the character he established in 2022. In recent interviews, Pattinson described the script as ‘extraordinary’ and teased that the sequel takes some ‘big swings.’ His Batman is not the polished billionaire playboy of earlier iterations — he is a detective first, a public figure almost by accident, and the sequel is expected to push further into that tension.
Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon
Jeffrey Wright returns as James Gordon in The Batman: Part II, now confirmed as Commissioner rather than Lieutenant. Wright’s Gordon was one of the genuine surprises of the first film — less the loyal institutional figure, more the lone honest cop in a city designed to break honest cops. More power in the sequel means more exposure.
Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth
Andy Serkis returns as Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman: Part II, confirmed in April 2026. Speaking to ScreenRant ahead of production, Serkis described the script as tackling ‘new territory’ and said the story ‘really does speak to Matt as a human being and what he feels about life.’ For a film keeping its cards this close, that is about as informative as anyone is going to get before a trailer drops.
Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb / The Penguin
Colin Farrell returns as Oz Cobb / The Penguin in The Batman: Part II. Farrell’s Penguin appeared in The Batman (2022) and then anchored the acclaimed HBO Max spinoff series The Penguin (2024), which picked up directly after the events of the first film. How heavily Oz Cobb features in Part II relative to the new Dent family storyline remains unconfirmed as of May 2026.
Jayme Lawson as Mayor Bella Real
Jayme Lawson returns as Mayor Bella Real in The Batman: Part II. Lawson’s character ended The Batman (2022) as Gotham’s newly elected mayor, inheriting a city in crisis after the Riddler’s catastrophic flooding. How her political storyline intersects with the incoming Harvey Dent is one of the more interesting structural questions the film raises.
Gil Perez-Abraham as Officer Martinez
Gil Perez-Abraham returns as GCPD Officer Martinez in The Batman: Part II. His inclusion in the official cast announcement signals that Reeves is maintaining continuity with the established world rather than resetting.
The New Additions
Six new cast members have been confirmed for The Batman: Part II as of May 2026. Together, they paint a clear picture of the story’s direction even without official plot details.
Sebastian Stan as Harvey Dent / Two-Face
Sebastian Stan plays Harvey Dent in The Batman: Part II, confirmed by director Matt Reeves in January 2026. Dent is Gotham’s District Attorney and, eventually, Two-Face. Stan arrives in a different context from previous live-action versions of the character — here, Harvey Dent comes with a wife and a father already cast around him, suggesting Reeves is building the character’s full family world before tearing it apart.
Scarlett Johansson as Gilda Dent
Scarlett Johansson plays Gilda Dent in The Batman: Part II, confirmed by Matt Reeves in May 2026. Gilda is Harvey Dent’s wife. In the celebrated Long Halloween comic by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale — widely understood as an influence on Reeves’ approach to this universe — Gilda becomes the serial killer Holiday, murdering Gotham crime family members on calendar holidays. Whether Johansson’s Gilda follows that arc fully, partially, or in a reimagined form remains unconfirmed as of May 2026.
Charles Dance as Christopher Dent
Charles Dance plays Christopher Dent, Harvey Dent’s father, in The Batman: Part II, confirmed by Matt Reeves in May 2026. Dance is best known internationally as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones. Casting him as a Dent family patriarch is not a neutral choice — it implies weight, authority, and the specific kind of damage that fathers with both tend to cause.
Barry Keoghan as The Joker
Barry Keoghan returns as The Joker in The Batman: Part II, confirmed by Variety in January 2026. Keoghan’s Joker appeared only briefly at the end of The Batman (2022), sharing a single scene with Paul Dano’s Riddler inside Arkham Asylum. A deleted scene later released online showed his exchange with Pattinson’s Batman — a more psychologically invasive version of the character than any previous live-action iteration. Keoghan is not expected to serve as the film’s primary antagonist, according to current reports as of May 2026.
Brian Tyree Henry — Role Unconfirmed
Brian Tyree Henry has joined the cast of The Batman: Part II in an unconfirmed role, announced by Matt Reeves on May 14, 2026. Reeves’ announcement used the phrase ‘Welcome to the party, man’ — a Die Hard reference that has fuelled speculation, including theories that Henry may play an Arkham-adjacent figure or investigator. His character has not been officially described as of May 2026. Henry is known for Atlanta, Eternals, Bullet Train, and Causeway.
Sebastian Koch — Role Unconfirmed
Sebastian Koch has joined the cast of The Batman: Part II in an unconfirmed role, announced by Matt Reeves on May 14, 2026. Koch is best known internationally for the Oscar-winning German drama The Lives of Others and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies. His character has not been officially described as of May 2026.
The Notable Absence: Zoe Kravitz
Zoe Kravitz is not returning as Selina Kyle / Catwoman in The Batman: Part II. This has been known for some time and was not part of Reeves’ May 2026 cast reveal. The Batman (2022) ended with Selina and Bruce going their separate ways, and that appears to be where they stay. It is a deliberate narrative choice, not a scheduling casualty.
What We Know About the Plot of The Batman: Part II
Officially confirmed plot details for The Batman: Part II are minimal as of May 2026. What can be reasonably inferred from the casting is considerable.
The Dent family is the spine of this film. A DA, his wife, his father, and the arc that turns one of them into Gotham’s most recognisable villain. The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale is the most widely cited influence — it centres on Harvey Dent’s fall alongside a mystery about a serial killer murdering Gotham mob figures on holiday. Gilda’s role in that story is significant and dark.
Matt Reeves has confirmed that The Batman: Part II will place greater focus on Bruce Wayne alongside Batman’s detective work. The Batman (2022) was already more detective procedural than action spectacle. The sequel appears to push further in that direction.
Early camera test footage released by Reeves in May 2026 shows the Batmobile driving through snow. The Batman (2022) took place over a single week around Halloween. The Penguin (2024) picked up one week later. The Batman: Part II, based on the snow imagery, appears to be set in December or early January — another seasonally-charged chapter in a universe that has always used Gotham’s calendar deliberately.
The Screendollars Take
The Batman: Part II is not trying to be The Dark Knight. That is the right call.
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight did Harvey Dent as tragedy — 45 minutes of screen time, a complete arc, burned to the ground. It worked because that film was built around chaos corrupting order, and Dent was the cleanest symbol of order available. Reeves is building something different. A Harvey Dent with a wife who may be as dangerous as he is, a father who almost certainly made him who he is, and a Joker already waiting in Arkham for whatever comes next. That is not a villain story. That is a family story with catastrophic consequences.
The Long Halloween is the obvious reference point, but Reeves has never simply adapted source material. He used Year One as scaffolding and built something that felt like neither Year One nor any previous Batman. He will do the same here. What the cast tells you is that Reeves has been thinking about this film the same way he thought about the first one — not as a superhero movie with a villain problem, but as a crime epic where the hero happens to wear a cape.
Watch Order: The Batman Universe
1. The Batman (2022) — Start here. The foundational film. Sets the world, the detective tone, and Bruce Wayne’s second year as Batman. Streaming availability: verify via JustWatch. Box office: $770 million worldwide.
2. The Penguin (2024, HBO Max) — Picks up one week after The Batman. Follows Oz Cobb’s rise through Gotham’s criminal underworld. Not required viewing, but it establishes where Colin Farrell’s character stands heading into Part II.
3. The Batman: Part II (2027) — In theatres October 1, 2027.
Streaming disclaimer: All streaming availability should be verified via JustWatch before watching. Rights change frequently.
October 2027. Gotham, winter. A DA, his wife, and a Joker are already in the building. Whatever Reeves has been waiting to say for five years, he is about to say it.
