Robert Pattinson explains how upcoming Batman II looks very different to first film

Topping off an incredible year, Robert Pattinson is next on screen in December in Dune: Part III – in which he joins Denis Villeneuve's stellar adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi tome as blonde-haired antagonist Scytale.

But it's another franchise's sequel that’s intriguing most people right now.

The Batman Part II, which will see Pattinson reprise his role as DC Comics' Dark Knight in Matt Reeves's grim, noir-ish take on Gotham City, has been shooting since June in the United Kingdom, with locations including Glasgow, Liverpool and Warner Bros. Studios at Leavesden.

"Oh, I mean, it’s fun," says Pattinson, brightly, when asked about his reaction to returning to the character some six years since he shot The Batman in 2020, which went on to gross $778 million worldwide when it released two years later.

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"It’s funny having done all this different stuff in between..." he muses in an exclusive interview with Radio Times. Indeed, from playing multiple clones in Mickey 17 to a husband with a wife suffering from postpartum depression in Die My Love, he’s been far removed from the world of billionaire Bruce Wayne and his Caped Crusader alter ego.

"Matt just wrote this amazing script," he adds. "I think the first one was...it’s difficult to reinvent Batman. And then to go in another totally different direction."

Set in the winter after the flooding of Gotham City shown in the finale of the first movie, the sequel sees Batman take on another case that sees him further explore corruption and division in the city.

Joining him in the cast is Sebastian Stan (as District Attorney Harvey Dent) and Scarlett Johansson (as Dent’s wife Gilda), as well as returnees Andy Serkis (as butler Alfred Pennyworth), Jeffrey Wright (Lt James Gordon) and a prosthetics-wearing Colin Farrell (Oz Cobb, aka The Penguin).

Shooting the film is Erik Messerschmidt, the regular cinematographer for David Fincher, whose next film is Fincher's highly anticipated Quentin Tarantino script The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, with Brad Pitt.

From what he saw on set, Pattinson is pumped by the visual look of The Batman: Part II. "Even when I’m just looking at the playback on certain things, it looks different from the first one," he says. "It’s just amazing."

The film has been delayed multiple times, with release dates shifting, partly due to Matt Reeves's work on spin-off show The Penguin.

Recently, Reeves was forced to step away from principal photography for personal reasons, with Steven Soderbergh stepping in to help complete the shoot. "It’s incredibly generous of him," stated Pattinson recently of Soderbergh’s input, "and he’s doing it in the loveliest way. It’s completely selfless."

With Reeves overseeing the production – and Soderbergh's emergency help – from Los Angeles, and the release date still pegged to February 2028, Pattinson feels all the long-gestating work will pay off, with fans certain to be delighted by this return to Gotham.

"It’s a quite radical change with the script, and it’s cool. Warners are behind it and DC. I mean, it's just crazy. It’s a really radical retelling… I think people are going to be excited by it."

The Batman: Part II is set to be released in February 2028.

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