There have been rumours of a Joker sequel ever since the first movie earned more than $1 billion worldwide, the first R-rated movie to do so. That type of money almost always guarantees a sequel, but I never really believed it would happen. It seems I’m about to eat my words. Joker director Todd Phillips shared an image of the front page of the script for Joker 2 on Instagram, as well as a photo of Joaquin Phoenix reading it.
The Joker 2 script is titled Joker: Folie à Deux. The French term refers to a madness shared by two and is a “psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief, and sometimes hallucinations, are transmitted from one individual to another.” The same syndrome may be shared by three, four, or even groups of people. As for who Arthur Fleck might be sharing his madness with this time around, fans are already theorizing that Harley Quinn could be involved, or at least some variation of her. The ending of the first film found Fleck’s actions igniting a series of riots across Gotham City which led to the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Perhaps Fleck’s madness has spread even further in the sequel.
Joaquin Phoenix has previously teased that he’d be up to return to the role. “From when we were shooting, we started to —you know, uhh, this is an interesting guy,” Phoenix told The Playlist last year. “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.” It was also reported last week that new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zazlav had asked Todd Phillips to “do more in the DC Universe,” and even potentially act as an advisor.
What do you hope to see from Joker 2?