Rumors have been circulating for a while that Harvey Dent might appear in Joker: For Do, and a recently released TV spot confirms that Harry Lawty (Industry) will be playing the role of Gotham City’s District Attorney.
With much of the sequel set to take place in the courtroom, common sense would dictate that we’ll eventually see Dent get attacked and transform into the twisted Two-Face, according to filmmaker Todd Phillips.
“We respect the comics. We understand the comics,” he told IGN. “With Harley, we watched the animated series. Of course, Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn. But when you look at things in this movie, Harvey Dent is a perfect example. It’s a simpler expression of what we did with Harley, just applying a real-world lens to it. Instead of not doing it in the other movies, we looked at it in our own Gotham.”
“So, actually, the Harvey Dent we meet here (played by Harry Lawty) isn’t a big part, but if we were doing a trial, there would be no reason not to make Harvey Dent the assistant district attorney who prosecutes Arthur Fleck,” Phillips added. “But this isn’t about him. We don’t really reveal his dark side. What we see is a young Harvey Dent.”
With no plans for Joker 3, we’ll just have to guess what the future holds for Dent and Gotham City’s future Batman, Bruce Wayne.
Joker made it clear that Phillips’ film wouldn’t be a direct adaptation of the comics, so the fact that this sequel borrows some of the more familiar names from the source material is more a way to flesh out Gotham City than a sign that the story will end with a battle between Batman and Arthur Fleck.
In the same interview, the writer and director also detailed how the sequel we never expected to see, Joker: For Do, came about.
“On the first movie, as I’m talking, Joaquin jokingly said, ‘We could have shot it for another three months,’ and I felt the same way. And usually it’s like, ‘Let’s get out of here, go to the editing room and figure out what this is,'” Phillips explains. “But with the first Joker, we loved Arthur, and I know Joaquin did too.”
“I think it was about day 30 of the 55-day shoot of the first movie that Joaquin and I started talking seriously about a sequel. Half of it was joking, half of it wasn’t. We were just trying to make each other laugh: ‘Okay, what if we did this? What if we did that?'”
“And then, of course, the movie came out, people embraced it, people loved Arthur as much as Joaquin, and I loved Arthur,” he added.
In Joker: Folie à Deux, Arthur Fleck is in Arkham as he awaits trial for his crimes as the Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only finds true love, but also the music that’s always been inside of him.
The sequel stars Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role as Arthur Fleck/The Joker opposite Oscar winner Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born). The film also stars Oscar nominees Brendan Gleeson (Banshees of Innisheline) and Catherine Keener (Get Out), with Zazie Beetz reprising her role as the Joker.
“Joker: Folie au Deux” will hit theaters on October 4th.