Earlier this week, Warner Bros. officially pushed The Batman Part II out of its October 2026 release date and delayed the sequel for another year. Now, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has weighed in on the delay and explained why it happened.
“The only reason for the delay is there isn’t a full script,” wrote Gunn on his Threads account. “[Director] Matt [Reeves] is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write. Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting, and post-production on big films.”
Gunn has previously indicated that under his regime, DC won’t send movies into production without a finished script. In order to make the film’s 2026 release date, The Batman Part II would have had to begun casting by now, in addition to setting up dates to shoot the film. But because of the delay, there will now be a five-year gap between the release of The Batman in March 2022 and its sequel.
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HBO’s The Penguin kept The Batman‘s shared universe going when it debuted in September to largely positive reviews. Colin Farrell reprised his role as Oswald Cobb aka The Penguin, and the season finale had implications for his character’s future in The Batman Part II. During a recent feature with Variety, Reeves acknowledged that he’s been in discussions about a second season of The Penguin.
“We’re talking to [showrunner] Lauren [LeFranc] about doing another season,” said Reeves. “That was a special experience. I just feel really fortunate. These characters don’t belong to me; they belong to the world. It comes down to whether you can approach them in a way that expresses something personal.”
The Batman Part II will be released on October 1, 2027.