Barry Keoghan being eyed to return as Joker for Batman spinoff series

The Joker might be laughing his way to television.

Barry Keoghan, who briefly played the Joker in The Batman, is being eyed to reprise his character for an HBO series. The rumor was hinted at by Devin Faraci on the latest episode of the Marvelvision podcast. Faraci explained that a Joker series would bridge the gap between The Batman Part II and The Batman Part III. The move is similar to how Colin Farrell played Oz Cobb in The Batman before headlining The Penguin.

“Apparently Warner Bros. has been chatting with Barry Keoghan about his return to The Batman franchise, and my understanding is that — I don’t know if he’s in The Batman Part II or not, but he’s the main villain of The Batman: Part III,” Faraci said. “And the reason why they’re having a real talk about it is because the plan is to do a Joker-oriented series that connects II and III the way that The Penguin connects I and II.”

Faraci is unsure if the Joker will headline his own series or be a featured character. However, putting the Joker in a TV series makes sense, considering Matt Reeves revealed he’s been in contact with Warner Bros. about developing more shows in his Batman universe.

“We have been talking, and it’s exciting because people are now embracing the show,” Reeves said. “My fantasy is coming into being, which is very exciting, and HBO has been incredibly supportive from the beginning. Now to see that the show is being embraced is really, really exciting. We have been talking about doing other shows.

Keoghan’s Joker briefly appeared at the end of The Batman, when he briefly chats and laughs with Paul Dano’s The Riddler inside Arkham Asylum. Keoghan filmed a five-minute scene where Robert Pattinson’s Batman interrogates the Joker. However, Reeves ultimately cut the scene from the final movie. Warner Bros. eventually released the scene online.