Even as the future of the DC movie universe heads into a new unified direction, there is a holdover from the previous regime that is ready to cause a stir, Joker: Folie à Deux. Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips are teaming up once again and are set to take their Joker sequel in an interesting direction.
2019's Joker was already unlike almost any other DC movie that we have seen before, providing a unique take on the classic Batman villain. Though the movie didn't feature any superhero fisticuffs, it still made more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office and earned two Oscars for Best Score and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix, as well as a Best Picture nom. The movie earned 11 Oscar nominations in total.
What can audiences expect from Joker: Folie à Deux? Here is everything we know about the Joker sequel.
Joker: Folie à Deux release date
Joker: Folie à Deux has an expected release date of October 4, 2024. Should that date hold, that would be exactly five years to the day from when the first Joker movie was released.
Joker: Folie à Deux plot
There is no official plot available for Joker: Folie à Deux at this time, though we do have a couple of key pieces of information to get an idea of what the story is going to entail. But first, a quick reminder of what Joker was about.
Joker was a dark story about Arthur Fleck, a clown-for-hire who had aspirations of being a stand-up comedian. Arthur suffers from mental problems that eventually led him on a downward spiral and put him in the center of a riotous city. However, the movie ends in such a way that it is open for interpretation on how much was true or if it was all part of Arthur's delusions.
We probably won't have a definitive answer to those questions until Joker: Folie à Deux comes out. But adding to those layers is the expected introduction of the character of Harley Quinn, a psychiatrist who becomes the Joker's girlfriend in the comics. Another interesting tidbit about the movie is that it is expected to be a musical.
Joker: Folie à Deux cast
Joaquin Phoenix returns to his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck for Joker: Folie à Deux. While the 2019 movie gave Phoenix his first Oscar, the actor has been nominated multiple times before for Gladiator, Walk the Line and The Master.
Starring opposite Phoenix's Arthur Fleck/Joker is Lady Gaga in the role of Harley Quinn, which was announced in August 2022. She is the third actress to be playing Harley Quinn in recent years, following Margot Robbie in the Suicide Squad/Birds of Prey movies and Kaley Cuoco, who voices the character in the animated Harley Quinn series on HBO Max. Lady Gaga is best known as a singer, though she is also a well-regarded actress known for A Star is Born and House of Gucci.
Other members of the Joker: Folie à Deux cast include Brendan Gleeson (opens in new tab) (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Catherine Keener (opens in new tab) (The Adam Project), per Deadline, as well as Jacob Lofland (The Maze Runner), according to The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab). Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) is also reportedly in talks to reprise her character from Joker, Sophie Dumond, reports Deadline (opens in new tab).
Joker: Folie à Deux trailer
There is no trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux just yet. When one is available we'll add it here.
Joker: Folie à Deux first look
Director Todd Phillips shared a first look image of Joker: Folie à Deux, featuring Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix. Check it out directly below:
Todd Phillips movies
Returning to direct Joker: Folie à Deux is Todd Phillips. He was nominated for Best Director at the Oscars for the first movie, as well as one of the producers listed for Best Picture and as a co-writer for its Oscar-nominated script.
Phillips has been around for a while though, and Joker was a bit of a departure from the type of movies that he has been known for throughout his career. Take a look at Todd Phillips’ other directing credits right here:
- Frat House (1998)
- Bittersweet Motel (2000)
- Road Trip (2000)
- Old School (2003)
- Starsky & Hutch (2004)
- School for Scoundrels (2006)
- The Hangover (2009)
- Due Date (2010)
- The Hangover Part II (2011)
- The Hangover Part III (2013)
- War Dogs (2016)
- Joker (2019)
What does Joker: Folie à Deux title mean?
Folie à Deux is an interesting subhead to give to the Joker sequel. So what does it actually mean? Folie à deux is actually a medical term, defined by the National Library of Medicine (opens in new tab) as "an identical or similar mental disorder affecting two or more individuals, usually members of a close family."
Considering Joker: Folie à Deux looks to be dealing with the relationship between Joker and Harley Quinn, the term may be referring to how the two of them are connected.
How does Joker: Folie à Deux fit with the rest of the DC universe?
Between the Snyder-verse, the upcoming James Gunn DC movies and everything else that features DC superheroes, it can be confusing to understand how, if at all, they connect. In the case of Joker: Folie à Deux, it is not actually going to connect to the slate of movie's that Gunn announced, or any other movie from the studio. Instead, it is falling under what they are calling "Elseworlds."
Stories in the Elseworlds category are completely standalone. In addition to Joker: Folie à Deux, that includes Matt Reeve's The Batman and its upcoming sequel, as well as animated series Teen Titans Go.
How to watch Joker
If you want to watch 2019's Joker, you can do so right now on HBO Max in the US and through digital on-demand in the UK.
