It was reported earlier this week by THR that Todd Phillips was negotiating with Warner Bros. to return for a Joker sequel and was “likely” to retest with Joaquin Phoenix (who has previously stated he’s keen to examine more of Arthur Fleck’s storyline), however, it seems as though those reports are nothing more than rumours.
Phillips had made it very clear from the get-go that Joker was a standalone movie and wouldn’t be making a sequel no matter how much fans wanted it, however, things changed when the movie crossed the $1 billion mark and became the most successful R-rated movie of all time.
Now, the director has the power to tell the next Joker story if he actually wants to, but now he’s telling the “real truth” about the story and it seems we shouldn’t get too excited just yet.
Speaking with IndieWire, Phillips addressed the rumours and said, “Here’s the real truth about a sequel. While Joaquin and I have talked about it, and while touring the world with Warner Bros executives — going to Toronto, and Venice, and other places — of course, we’re sitting at dinner and they’re saying, ‘So, have you thought about…?’
“But, talking about contracts, there’s not a contract for us to even write a sequel, we’ve never approached Joaquin to be in a sequel. Will that happen? Again, I just think the article was anticipatory at best.”
So, no official talks have actually taken place and Joker 2 isn’t likely to happen at this stage.
But that doesn’t mean they won’t be swayed at some point in the future – Phillips didn’t say he definitely wouldn’t make the film.
The director has previously revealed that he and Phoenix have discussed potential sequel ideas while they were filming and with the success of the film, Warner Bros would likely want a sequel to be made.
After all, we’re still getting a Suicide Squad sequel and that movie was terrible. But it made enough money that the studio wanted to give it another try.
So, who knows what will happen, but it does seem more likely than not that we’ll see Phoenix as Arthur Fleck once more.