Joker 2: Zazie Beetz in talks to return for sequel

Deadline has reported that Zazie Beetz is in talks to return for Joker 2 to reprise her role as Sophie Dumond.

The character was a single mother who lived in the same apartment building as Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix). Throughout the film, it’s implied that the two have started a relationship, but it’s later revealed that Arthur had been imagining it when Sophie doesn’t recognize him. It’s implied that Arthur kills Sophie, but that’s something Zazie Beetz never believed. The actress recently told THR why she thinks that Arthur wouldn’t have killed Sophie.

Yeah, in my mind, she lives because she never actively wronged Arthur. His victims in the film were generally people that pointedly hurt him. Even within the horror of his realization around his own state of mind, he acknowledges that she’s more of a bystander to his situation than an actor to his situation. So, to me, it made sense that she wouldn’t be harmed by him because his harm was intentional towards certain people and then society at large, which he also felt wronged by in a way. So in my mind, she makes it out unscathed, at least physically.

If Zazie Beetz returns for Joker 2, will it be as the real Sophie or another delusion? The sequel is titled Joker: Folie à Deux and will once again find Joaquin Phoenix playing the role of Arthur Fleck. Lady Gaga is confirmed to star alongside Phoenix, with the actress expected to play Harley Quinn. Production on the Joker sequel will start shooting this December with Todd Phillips directing from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it’s been said that much of it will take place within Arkham Asylum, which is where we left Arthur in the last film.

Zazie Beetz was recently seen in David Leitch’s Bullet Train. The action comedy stars Brad Pitt as Ladybug, an unlucky assassin determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans, as Ladybug’s latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe—all with connected, yet conflicting, objectives—on the world’s fastest train. In addition to Brad Pitt and Zazie Beetz, the film boasts quite the eclectic cast, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A. Martínez Ocasio, Logan Lerman, Sandra Bullock, and more.

Joker: Folie à Deux will hit theaters on October 4, 2024.