Todd Phillips Reveals Truth Behind Joker Sequel

Has Phillips meet with Warner Bros. brass to agree on a second outing for the Harlequin of Hate?

by Andrew Pollard
Joker Joaquin Phoenix Todd Phillips
Warner Bros.

After the internet went into overload yesterday about director Todd Phillips reportedly working on a Joker sequel, Phillips himself has moved to clarify the situation.

Recent stories suggested that Phillips had held a meeting with Warner Brothers’ Toby Emmerich in which he not only asked to been given the green light for a Joker follow-up, but he also requested access to several other DC Comics characters who he could likewise develop an origin story for.

Speaking to IndieWire to clear things up, Phillips explained how the supposed meeting between himself and Emmerich never actually took place. He did, however, say that there have been talks between himself and star Joaquin Phoenix over a potential Joker 2, and the press tour for Joker saw Phillips and the travelling Warner Bros. brass have casual conversations about whether the director would have any interest in such a sequel.

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To summarise, Joker 2 is far from official, Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix are not contracted for a sequel, but there has at least been mild chatter of doing such a film.

Given that Joker recently surpassed $1 billion at the global box office, you can certainly see why Warner Bros. would be keen to push forward with a second outing for Phoenix’s Jester of Genocide.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.