Joker: Folie à Deux has recently graced the screens at the Venice Film Festival, and despite the highly anticipated sequel, Joker 2 director Todd Phillips confirms there might be no threequel to look forward to.
Will There Be a Joker 3 To Expect? Todd Phillips Doesn't Think So
The second Joker flick surprised DC fans who went to see the first Arthur Fleck-centered story in 2019 and were convinced that the story ended there.
However, the concept of returning for the sequel came to Joaquin Phoenix in a dream: the image of the Joker "performing onstage" sounded like a good idea.
Despite the mixed reception of the sequel at the Venice Film Festival, it would seem that a threequel could make sense sometime in the future. The director, on the other hand, thinks otherwise.
"Again, you'll see [Joker 2] and you'll go, 'Oh, I get it. The story is told.'" Phillips recently said in an interview, as though confirming that a third Joker flick would be a miracle.
"Everything I do is dictated on actors. Clearly, these films have been built around, Joaquin, then we introduced Gaga," as much as Phillips would love to continue working on Joker entering the DC Universe, he added, "So I can't really say yes or no, but it's not necessarily my goal to stay in this space."
Last December, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn previously shared that Phillips received personal notes from him on what could work for Joker: Folie à Deux, before ultimately declaring that his Joker flicks are not a part of the DCU they're currently building and re-establishing.
"Todd had Joker in full swing by the time we came onboard — I've watched and given notes, but it is mostly with Warner Bros.," Gunn explained, "Everything forward in live-action we're involved with."
It remains to be seen if Joker 2 will truly mark the ending of Arthur and Harley "Lee" Quinn's story or if the DC film will never join the DC Universe. But as Phillips said, it would depend on what's to come in the future.
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For now, Joker: Folie à Deux premieres on the big screens on Friday, October 4.
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