Any Batman is only as good as his allies. For Robert Pattinson’s (the) Batman, he has a damn good James Gordon in the form of Jeffrey Wright. And though he’s not in the 2022’s The Batman as much as I might have liked, Andy Serkis is a distinctly stabilizing force as Alfred Pennyworth. So, one would hope Alfred would play a major part in the long (long, long)-awaited The Batman Part II. But Serkis is a busy man, both with his upcoming directorial duties for Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and doing press for his animated Animal Farm. Fear not, however, as Serkis says he should be returning to Wayne Manor.
Speaking to Collider (via Deadline), Serkis says scheduling has been an issue with the London shoot for Matt Reeves’ The Batman sequel. That has a planned start date for production this June. “I’m pretty certain it’s all going to work out. Yeah, we’re working on it, but I think it’s all looking good.” Serkis went on to say that he “won’t be joining them immediately,” them being Batman II, but “by the end of the year, I will be.”
Look, I’m happy for any and all Alfred we can get in a new Batman movie. Any Batman movie without Alfred would be worse for it. But, sixth-ish months of production without him certainly doesn’t make it seem like we’ll get a ton of Alfred in the movie. Ah well.
The Deadline article ends with a list of the remaining cast. “Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Scarlett Johansson, and Sebastian Stan as Harvey Dent.” To our knowledge, Stan has only been rumored to play Harvey Dent, not confirmed. It’s certainly likely, given pretty much everything about Sebastian Stan’s screen persona, plus the fact that Johansson’s role is rumored to be someone named “Golda.” In The Long Halloween, Harvey’s wife Golda plays a major role.
Anyway, Alfred’s back. Yay.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.