As Matt Reeves' The Batman - Part II prepares to begin shooting later this year, most of the main roles have now been filled, with the exception of Harvey Dent's troubled father, Christopher Dent.
This is believed to be the part Brad Pitt was offered prior to Sebastian Stan being cast as Harvey. Now, it seems Reeves is searching for a slightly older actor to play Dent Sr., as The Hot Mic's Jeff Sneider reports that Stellan Skarsgård (Dune, Andor) was also offered the role.
Why Skarsgård declined is not clear, but there's a chance he's decided to hold out and see what kind of offers come his way if he does win the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Sentimental Value.
There are rumors that the sequel will also feature a second male bad guy, but if this is the case, the character remains a mystery.
Reeves has previously dropped a few hints about the villain Batman will be facing off against in the movie, describing the mysterious antagonist as someone who has "never really been done in a movie before." There's a good chance he was referring to Johansson's character here, however.
“Because of what the first movie was and what [The Batman: Part 2] is, which is so much a detective story, the idea of trying to protect the secrets of the movie is super important because it’s a mystery. That would be an extra level of heartbreak if that part of it started getting out. You wanna keep the surprise so the fans... can have the fun experience that I always love going to the movies, which was to go and be surprised,” the filmmaker said in a recent interview.
In addition to The Penguin star Colin Farrell and several others (presumably more than 5 people at this stage), Robert Pattinson has read the script - which was delivered to him in a highly secure envelope that required a separate code to open - and was said to be very happy with the story, which will seemingly take the iconic DC Comics hero in a direction we have not seen before.“
"He’s Batman, so if he doesn’t like it, not good. So, I was super excited because I thought that he really would [like it] because the things that it does for his character, for Batman, and for [Bruce Wayne] has never been done before in this way. And I had a feeling he would respond in this way, the fact that he did was incredibly encouraging,” Reeves added.
The Batman - Part II is set to hit theaters on October 1, 2027.
Robert Pattinson will return as Bruce Wayne/Batman, along with Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, and (possibly) Barry Keoghan as The Joker. Zoë Kravitz is not expected to reprise her role as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Scarlett Johansson is believed to be playing Harvey Dent's wife, Gilda.