Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker is set to head back into cinemas in 2024 with a brand new sequel.
In a post on Instagram this Tuesday, Joker director Todd Phillips shared a picture of the cover of the script, as well as a photo of Phoenix reading it.
Written by Phillips and Scott Silver, the film will be titled Joker: Folie à Deux and is currently scheduled for release in 2024.
Curious? We are too. Usually, the phrase “Folie à Deux” refers to a shared madness: the idea that two people both experience the same delusion. With that in mind, fans have been hoping that Harley Quinn, the Joker’s canonical partner in crime, might also be making an appearance in the sequel – though no word has yet been given on casting.
Some people have also been pointing to a recent interview with Willem Dafoe in GQ, in which actor Dafoe pitched the idea of a sequel based on the comic book The Return of the Joker.
In that storyline, Batman is terrorised by a villain claiming to be the Joker, after the Joker is believed to have died.
“There is something interesting about, like, if there was a Joker Imposter,” Dafoe told the publication.
“If you had Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, and then you had someone who was either imitating or riffing off what he did."
With that in mind, perhaps the stage will be set for Dafoe to make his appearance as a Joker copycat.
Regardless, the film has to meet some high expectations: the original Joker film, which was released in 2019, netted Phoenix an award for Best Actor at the 2020 Oscars, with composer Hildur Guðnadóttir also winning for Best Original Score.
For those who don’t know, the plot follows the story of Arthur Fleck, a struggling clown and aspiring comedian who slowly slides into madness over the course of the film.
Rather than casting the Joker as a fully-fledged villain (which has been done previously), the film provided an origin story for the character and crossed it with a psychological thriller.
Though the original film also starred Robert de Niro, Zazie Beetz as Fleck’s neighbour Sophie and Frances Conroy as his mother Penny, no word has been given on whether these characters will also be making a return in any capacity.
When is it being released?
Deadline reports the studio has slotted it for release on October 4, 2024, five years exactly after the original’s release.
