Everything we know about “Joker: Folie à Deux”, from 'full nudity' to Lady Gaga's debut as Harley Quinn

Here are all the details we know about Joaquin Phoenix's return as the Joker in Todd Phillips' musically tinged anti-hero sequel set in 1980s Gotham City.

We're still a long way out from Joker: Folie à Deux playing its ace in theaters with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga on deck, but with the film's new trailer drop — and fan anticipation skyrocketing for the DC Comics-inspired blockbuster — it's time to break down everything we know about the Joker sequel before cinemas go full clown in the coming months.

Ahead, EW breaks down all of the most important details about the new Todd Phillips-directed movie, dropping five years after the commercial (and awards) success of the 2019 original, which grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office and earned 11 Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. Phoenix also took home the Best Actor award, his first Oscar, for portraying the titular role.

Read on for everything we know about Warner Bros.' Joker: Folie à Deux before the movie hits theaters this fall.

Who's in the cast?

Most of the team from the first film is returning for the 2024 sequel.

Joker's initial on-screen love interest, Sophie Dumond, is set to appear in Folie à Deux, with Zazie Beetz reprising the role after her character's arc came to an ambiguous end in the first film. Leigh Gill, who portrayed Fleck's clown coworker, Gary, will also return for the sequel, as will Sharon Washington, who played Fleck's social worker.

Notable new cast members include the aforementioned Gaga as Harley Quinn (alternatively known as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, an Arkham Asylum psychiatrist) as well as Oscar-nominated actors Catherine Keener, Steve Coogan, and Brendan Gleeson.

Behind the camera, Phillips and most of the director's technical team again worked on the second film, namely co-writer Scott Silver, editor Jeff Groth, Academy Award-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, cinematographer Lawrence Sher, production designer Mark Friedberg, and producer Bradley Cooper, Gaga's A Star Is Born director-costar.

What is Joker: Folie à Deux about?

The grim tone of the first Joker movie appears to be intact as Phoenix, Gaga, and Phillips prepare to play their hand in the sequel — but the story at the core of the film is a (still somewhat disturbing) musical romance.

Picking up after the events of the 1980s-set initial installment, Joker: Folie à Deux finds Fleck (Phoenix) locked away in Arkham Asylum for his role in the massive Gotham City uprising that led to the deaths of talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) as well as Bruce Wayne's parents, Thomas and Martha. There, he meets Harleen Quinzel, a fellow patient who develops a peculiar bond with Fleck. As seen in the trailer, it seems they ultimately break out of the asylum together before wreaking havoc on the city. Their love seems real, but considering that the first Joker played with the boundary between reality and Arthur’s imagination, it’s hard to tell what footage from the trailer (which shows the Joker running from other people dressed like him, and performing alongside Harley in cabaret clubs, among other things) is imaginary or not.

The film also incorporates musical elements and sees Gaga and Phoenix dance to covers of classic songs (the trailer includes a cover of "What the World Needs Now Is Love") as they navigate their whimsical romance backdropped by exaggerated cityscapes and quirky set pieces that set reality slightly off-kilter. The film's French subtitle, Folie à Deux, refers to a psychiatric disorder involving a shared psychosis between two closely connected people — indicating that the film might blur the line between the central duo's courtship and the real world around them.

"We never really talked about it like that, but I like to say it's a film where music is an essential element. To me, that doesn't veer too far from the first film," Phillips said of the new movie's tone at CinemaCon. "Arthur [Fleck]'s weird and aloof and all these things, but he has music in him. He has a grace to him. That informed a lot of the dancing in the first film... it didn't feel like that big of a step here. It's different, but I think it'll make sense when you see it."

Ahead of the trailer debut, the Motion Picture Association of America slapped Joker: Folie à Deux with an R rating (similar to the first Joker) for "some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity" — meaning we might be in for a shocking glimpse at the Joker's disco stick, among other things.

How will Lady Gaga portray Harley Quinn?

When Gaga acts, she acts. Take, for example, her last trio of major screen appearances in American Horror Story: Hotel (mid-sex murder with a splatter of vampiric gore had her literally writhing around in blood), A Star Is Born (that emotional rendition "Shallow" at the Oscars, anyone?) and House of Gucci (mama, the accent!). That's why it came as a bit of a surprise that, in the first official audio released from Joker: Folie à Deux, Gaga sounded remarkably like... well... Gaga.

Many anticipated that, given her penchant for vocal acrobatics, she might tap into traditional portrayals of the villainous character, who often sports a heavy Brooklyn accent — notably by Batman: The Animated Series voice actress Arleen Sorkin. Sorkin originated the character for her official DC debut in the TV show as Joker's love interest before Harley formally jumped to the comic book universe in 1999, preceding the likes of Margot Robbie (who continued the trend with her bold interpretation in the DC Extended Universe's live-action projects like the Suicide Squad films and Birds of Prey) and Kaley Cuoco (who also voiced Harley with an accent in the Max animated series Harley Quinn).

Speaking about choosing Gaga for the role, Phillips told the CinemaCon audience, "We cast Gaga because she's magic. I was a producer on A Star Is Born ... That was the first time I really met her and got to watch her work. As we were writing this script, Scott [Silver], who I wrote it with, kept going back to her."

Robbie earlier revealed at the 2024 Golden Globes that she hasn't yet spoken to Gaga about passing the baton for the character. Judging by the film's trailer and promotional imagery, their costumes will differ wildly. Gaga employs messy clown-inspired makeup for the new movie, and her outfit appears to be a more practical tribute to classic Harley dressings via 1980s streetwear — including a red jacket, diamond-print blouse, and tattered tights — than an overtly fantastical anti-hero costume. Elsewhere in the trailer, we learn that Harley is immediately impressed by Joker the first time she sees him, telling him, "I haven't done anything with my life like you have" — a nod to his violent streak that unfolded in the prior film. The trailer also confirms that Harley's not afraid to make a move on her man, telling her crush, "Let's get out of here," while they watch a movie together at the institution.

Gaga also reportedly employed her signature Method acting approach on the set. The film's cinematographer told The Trenches podcast in 2023 that he felt like he never met the person behind the character during filming: "I remember for like a week being like, 'God, I feel like we're like disconnecting, not even connecting, we're like, on opposites.' I'd say to my crew, 'Jesus, I can't like crack it. I feel like she either hates me or we hate each other, or there's something weird going on here. And then, the AD at one point said, 'Oh, you know, Stef would like if you just called her Lee on set', and I was like, 'Oh, 100 percent,' and.... the next thing I said was something 'Lee,' and it was like everything changed."

In other words, expect a press tour on par with House of Gucci, which saw Gaga famously admit that she disappeared so deeply into the role of murderess Patrizia Reggiani that she thought the real-life criminal sent a swarm of flies to torment her on set in Italy.

What new information does the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer introduce?

The trailer opens with Arthur Fleck still imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, where viewers left him at the end of 2019’s Joker. We see his meet-cute with Harley in the hallways of Arkham. It also seems like he’s open to changing his non-supervillain career, moving from standup comedy to cabaret singing.

On that note, we also see that the movie’s musical elements come into the narrative as illustrations of Joker’s and Harley’s feelings for each other. These sequences don’t exactly seem “real” within the context of the film but are stylized like the “dream ballets” of classic Hollywood musicals. And while the first Joker featured appearances from Thomas Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, and a young Bruce Wayne, there is no hint of Batman himself in this trailer.

How does Joker: Folie à Deux connect to the DC Comics characters it's based on?

Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, and Bob Kane created The Joker in 1940's Batman #1, but the character has experienced many reimaginings over the years. Phoenix and Phillips' version combines elements from across the character's history with several of their own ideas. For instance, the character's real name "Arthur Fleck" is unique to these movies and does not stem from the comics. Expect Folie a Deux to build on this interpretation, as the filmmakers don't appear wedded to any particular comic storylines.

Harley Quinn originates in Batman: The Animated Series and Gaga's interpretation appears to continue the tradition of her being a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who falls for the Joker when she encounters him. That backstory was first laid out by B:TAS producers Paul Dini and Bruce Timm in the one-shot comic "Mad Love," later directly adapted into an episode of the cartoon, that showed how the Joker inspired Quinzel to become a supervillain alongside him. But in the first trailer, there's no sign of either the sledgehammer or baseball bat that Harley Quinn has prominently wielded in comics, cartoons, and live-action movies ever since. Nor do Harley's pet hyenas Bud and Lou appear to be along for this ride — though until we see more, it's hard to say for sure. In other words, Folie à Deux appears to have discarded Harley's more cartoonish elements in favor of her core character details.

Will Joker: Folie à Deux connect to other DC movies?

No. The original Joker was conceived from the beginning as existing outside the main continuity of DC superhero movies. After all, that’s why Phoenix plays the title role rather than Jared Leto, who played the Joker in Suicide Squad and other movies in the fictional universe helmed by Zack Snyder. That’s also why Gaga is playing Harley Quinn in the upcoming sequel instead of Margot Robbie.

The Snyder run at DC is now over, and James Gunn has taken over as the lead director of the next phase of DC superhero movies. But don’t expect to see any hints or teases of next year’s Superman: Legacy in Folie à Deux. Like Matt Reeves’ The Batman (which also introduced its own version of the Joker, played by Barry Keoghan), these Joker movies exist in their own unique cinematic continuity.

In other words, the only DC movie that is connected to Joker: Folie à Deux is 2019's Joker.

When will Joker: Folie à Deux be released?

Warner Bros. has set the Joker: Folie à Deux release date for Oct. 4 in theaters, though we expect a run through the fall festivals (much like Joker did back in 2019) before that.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.