Matt Reeves teases returning cast for The Batman Part II ahead of June shoot
Director Matt Reeves officially unveiled the returning cast for The Batman: Part II through a series of personalised X posts on 13–14 May 2026, confirming six core cast members ahead of a June production start in the UK, with more announcements promised imminently.
TL;DR
- Reeves confirmed six returning cast members via X on 13–14 May, with more new-cast reveals expected on 14 May.
- Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Jayme Lawson, and Gil Perez-Abraham are all back.
- Filming begins in June at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, with location shoots in Glasgow and Liverpool.
- The film is set for a theatrical release on 1 October 2027.
How Reeves broke the cast news
Rather than a formal press release, Reeves revealed the returning cast through a series of X posts featuring personalised messages and GIFs taken from the first film. Each actor received their own dedicated teaser: Pattinson’s Batman was greeted with “We meet again, my friend…”, Wright’s Gordon with “Here we go again, my friend…”, and Serkis’s Alfred with “Are you ready, my friend…?”
Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb received “Round two, my friend…?”, Jayme Lawson’s Bella Reál got “Welcome back to the fight, my friend”, and Gil Perez-Abraham’s Officer Martinez rounded out the batch with “Hey! Mr. Martinez!”
Reeves ended his posts on Wednesday by promising further reveals on Thursday — updates expected to focus on the new additions to the cast.
Who is officially confirmed back
In a series of X postings, Reeves confirmed the core cast of returnees: Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth. He also confirmed Jayme Lawson returning as Mayor Bella Reál and Gil Perez-Abraham returning as Officer Martinez.
Serkis, who will also reprise his role as Gollum in the upcoming Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, had to carefully balance his two major commitments. Speaking to Screen Rant in April 2026, Serkis praised the new script’s ambition, saying he was “so excited for it.”
Pattinson has praised Reeves’s script as “extraordinary” and teased that the sequel will take “big swings,” describing it as “a really, really special movie and very, very different.”
New faces joining Gotham
Alongside the confirmed returnees, a trio of high-profile additions has already been announced ahead of Thursday’s reveals.
Academy Award nominee Scarlett Johansson has joined the cast, playing Gilda Dent, wife to Gotham district attorney Harvey Dent. Sebastian Stan has since joined Johansson, with Stan set to play Harvey Dent himself. Game of Thrones veteran Charles Dance has also been added, believed to be playing Christopher Dent, Harvey’s father.
It is also expected that both Paul Dano and Barry Keoghan will return as the Riddler and the Joker respectively, though neither has been formally confirmed at the time of writing.
A winter Gotham — and UK streets as its backdrop
Reeves offered the first official glimpse at production on 7 May, posting a photo on X captioned “#SnowTires 🦇” — a camera test image of the Batmobile in snowy, muddy conditions, confirming the sequel will be set during winter.
UK angle: Glasgow will once again serve as the stand-in for Gotham City, alongside Liverpool, England, for exterior shots, while the production will film primarily at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. Reeves previously told BBC Scotland‘s The Edit: “I wanted this to feel like a Gothic American city, but one that you’d never been to… we went to Glasgow and honestly it was so beautiful, I wish we could’ve filmed there more. I really think it’s a very special Gotham.”
Script, co-writer, and what’s different this time
Reeves is co-writing the sequel with Mattson Tomlin, who also did uncredited work on the original film. The script was completed in June 2025, ending a lengthy development period that saw multiple delays caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
At the Emmys last September, Reeves said: “It’s been a long journey, but I am so incredibly excited. I’m really proud of the script me and Mattson did.”
Reeves has described the sequel as a “very different type of Batman movie,” suggesting a tonal or structural shift from the first film. He has also changed cinematographers, moving from The Batman‘s Greig Fraser to Erik Messerschmidt.
Reportedly, the story involves an uneasy alliance between Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Harvey Dent as they work to dismantle a dangerous new threat. The film’s main villain — described by Reeves as one that has never been properly explored in a Batman film before — has not yet been revealed.
Release date and where to watch in the UK
The Batman: Part II is set to open in UK cinemas on 1 October 2027, the same date as its US release. No UK streaming platform or home release window has been confirmed. The film sits within DC Studios’ Elseworlds banner, keeping it separate from James Gunn’s main DC Universe.
What comes next
More casting announcements are expected from Reeves on 14 May, with new additions including Stan, Johansson, and Dance anticipated to be formally confirmed. Filming is scheduled to begin in June, with the production set to run through Warner Bros. Leavesden and the streets of Glasgow and Liverpool.
For further coverage of the DC slate, see also:
Reported from publicly available interviews and verified press sources. Last reviewed 14 May 2026.
Elena Vane is an award-winning comics historian and pop culture journalist. Specializing in the DC/Marvel universes and independent graphic novels, Elena has been documenting the rise of cosplay culture for over a decade . She is a frequent panelist at New York Comic Con and provides in-depth biographies of industry pioneers. Elena’s expertise ensures that every comic-related update is factually grounded and community-focused .
