The Joker is back, and this time... in a musical?
A sequel to the 2019 thriller Joker—based on the DC character—is in pre-production with The Hollywood Reporter reporting that Academy Award winner Lady Gaga is in negotiations to play Harley Quinn.
The thriller, led by Joaquin Phoenix, reached critical acclaim, garnering eight Academy Award nominations and an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, among others, won by Phoenix.
The follow-up is set to be a musical (confirmed by People) and aims to reunite Phoenix, still in negotiations, with Joker director and co-writer Todd Phillips. The sequel sees the return of Scott Silver as the co-writer and has been titled Joker: Folie à deux.
Joker 2 would join a growing list of superhero comic-inspired musical works, including stage musicals It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman, which received a 1975 TV adaptation following its 1966 Broadway Bow; and 2011's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
Gaga's potential character, Quinn, is Joker's love interest and was famously portrayed by Margot Robbie in the DCEU movies The Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey. Marked as one of the most notable female supervillains, Quinn was first introduced as Joker's psychiatrist, Dr. Harleen Quinzel. After falling in love with her patient, she eventually becomes his accomplice and joins him in his villainous exploits. The couple's relationship is depicted as co-dependent and abusive.
The "Born This Way" singer previously worked with Phillips as he produced A Star is Born, Gaga's breakthrough screen role. She led the movie alongside Bradley Cooper, taking on a role iconically played in earlier film adaptations by both Judy Garland and Barbara Streisand.
Gaga went on to star in House of Gucci.
