After the film was put on pause, Steven Soderbergh is helping to complete the final weeks of shooting on The Batman Part II.

Update: Just over a week after it was announced that production on The Batman Part II was put on pause, it’s being reported that Steven Soderbergh is to assist director Matt Reeves on the final weeks of principal photography.

Reeves is dealing with a personal family matter. Soderbergh will, according to Deadline, “remain in communication” with Reeves as he completes filming in the UK.

A statement from DC Studios reads:

“As Matt Reeves continues to attend to an ongoing family matter, Steven Soderbergh, as an admirer of Matt’s work, approached Matt and will step in, with the full support of DC Studios, to help the writer-director complete the final weeks of principal photography on The Batman Part 2. Matt and Steven will work closely together with the actors and crew to fulfill Matt’s vision of the film.”

Soderbergh wrote in his own statement that he will “work with Matt and his team to generate footage that will integrate seamlessly with what’s already been shot.”

On social media, Matt Reeves made it clear that he isn’t departing the project.

“Just to be clear, I am not leaving The Batman Part II,” he wrote. “I am profoundly grateful to Steven for coming to my aid during this challenging time to help me finish principal photography. Thank you to all for your concern and well wishes.”

Our earlier story follows…

6th October 2026: We’ll keep this piece brief, as it sounds as though the behind-the-scenes story here is a delicate one. Production on The Batman Part II has been put on hold, DC Studios has announced.

Filming had begun in London in June 2026, with the finished sequel – once due out in October 2027 – set for release in February 2028.

DC Studios, part of Warner Bros, released a statement which explains that director Matt Reeves has had to step back from the production due to a personal matter.

“Production on The Batman Part II has been temporarily paused while Matt Reeves focuses on a family matter,” the statement reads. “Matt has the full support of DC Studios and we look forward to continuing the journey soon.”

It’s currently uncertain whether the Batman sequel will be given a further delay. We’ll bring you more as we hear it.

Previously…

15th July 2026: Well, here’s a date to cross off the calendar: The Batman Part II is no longer coming out in October 2027. Instead, expect it to come glowering out of a cinema screen near you on the 18th February 2028.

How do we know this? Because there’s a new teaser trailer. It shows Batman, standing in the rain, illuminated by the flashing lights from a police light, doing nothing, but doing nothing moodily. Is it a different outfit? It looks markedly like the first film to us. Anyway, it does mean there’ll be a six year gap between 2022’s The Batman and the sequel.

We’ll keep you updated as we hear more.

Earlier…

15th May 2028: There are now mere days to go before The Batman Part II goes before cameras. And as production gears up for this June’s shoot, director Matt Reeves has been taking to social media to provide a few casting updates.

First, the filmmaker confirmed earlier reports that Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan were lined up for fairly major roles – Harvey Dent for Stan and his wife Gilda for Johansson. While he didn’t mention the characters, Reeves did officially welcome the actors to the production.

“Next exit, Gotham… welcome,” he wrote on what was Twitter, but has since become a live-updating 4chan under owner Elon Musk. (Here’s a link to THR instead, where we got the messages.)

Reeves also revealed two new additions to the cast: Brian Tyree Henry and Sebastian Koch. Henry you may know from the likes of Bullet Train and TV’s Atlanta; Koch was previously seen in The Lives Of Others and Bridge Of Spies.

Quite a cast, eh? We’ll bring you more as we hear it. Batty II is out on the 1st October 2027.

Previously…

20th April 2026: After a lengthy set of delays, The Batman Part II should begin filming in the UK this June. As production gears up, we’re still hearing about new bits of casting; Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan have been recent additions to the line-up, joining a returning Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader.

Deadline now reports that Charles Dance is ‘in talks’ for a fairly major role in director Matt Reeves’ forthcoming Bat-sequel. The rumour is he’ll play Christopher Dent, son of Harvey Dent – also known as Two-Face.

Following in the footsteps of such actors as Tommy Lee Jones and Aaron Eckhart, Sebastian Stan is set to play Dent, the district attorney turned supervillain. Johansson is reported to be playing Gilda, his wife.

Dance has appeared in such films as For Your Eyes Only, Alien 3 (he was brilliant in that), Last Action Hero and Godzilla: King Of Monsters. Assuming it all goes through, this will be another high-profile role to add to his huge body of work in film, TV and theatre.

The Batman Part II is due for release on the 1st October 2027.

Earlier than that…

7th January 2026: The Batman Part II is shaping up to be a starry comic book sequel. A month after it emerged that Scarlett Johansson was ‘eyeing’ a role in the caped crusading follow-up, along comes a report that Sebastian Stan is ‘in talks’ for a role.

Deadline is behind that report, though there’s also another bit of gossip circulating: Hollywood scoop merchant Jeff Sneider has written on Elon Musk’s hellsite that director Matt Reeves had “found his Dent,” which might suggest that Stan could play Harvey Dent, also known as Two-Face.

There have been previous rumours that Reeves is adapting the classic Batman comic book run The Long Halloween, which does indeed have a role for Harvey Dent.

Is there a shred of truth behind these rumours? We’ll keep you posted.

Our original story follows…

4th December 2025: Scarlett Johansson appears to be in competition with Chris Pratt over how many franchises they can appear in at any one time. Having played Black Widow in those Marvel films, Johansson has since starred in Jurassic World: Rebirth (and will reprise her role as Zora The Operative in the planned sequel), and is set to star in Mike Flanagan’s forthcoming attempt to revive the Exorcist series.

There have been rumours for a while that Johansson could also appear in Matt Reeves’ Caped sequel, The Batman Part II, and now Deadline’s industry moles have heard the same thing. It’s thought that a deal is close to being made, and while the role the Oscar-winner will play hasn’t been revealed, it’ll presumably be a sizeable one given her fame.

It’s been a long road for Reeves’ follow-up to his mean and moody 2022 movie, The Batman. Although announced within weeks of the original’s cinema release, Reeves has spent the past three years perfecting the script, resulting in delays to production (it was set to begin shooting in August 2024 at one stage, according to reports that year) and all kinds of colourful rumours.

There had been suggestions that Reeves might hand over the directing reins to someone else, or that the film might have been cancelled entirely – though DC head honcho James Gunn was quick to dispel the latter last November.

It’s now thought that The Batman Part II, again starring Robert Pattinson as a version of the superhero in desperate need of a roast dinner and a hug, will begin filming in the spring of 2026. If that’s the case, then there’ll likely be a formal announcement over casting within a matter of weeks – and, perhaps, a clue as to who Johansson will play.

Zoe Kravitz played Catwoman in the last film, so that role’s occupied. Poison Ivy, perhaps? Talia al Ghul? Barbara Gordon?

We’ll bring you more as we hear it.