Todd Phillips, the director of the upcoming Joker sequel, has debuted the first look at Lady Gaga’s character.

The official still shows the pop icon in an intimate – and passionate – moment with Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker. The caption simply reads: “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Gaga’s involvement with the film, which will be a musical, was confirmed in June 2022.

She will be playing the iconic role of Harley Quinn, a psychiatrist who falls in love with Arthur. Margot Robbie memorably played the anti-hero in the DC Extended Universe films Suicide Squad (2016), Birds of Prey (2020) and The Suicide Squad (2021).

Robbie gave Gaga her blessing in an interview with MTV News, saying she will do “something incredible with it”.

“It’s such an honour to have built a foundation strong enough that Harley can now be one of those characters that other actors get to have a go at playing,” she explained.

“It makes me so happy because, I said from the very beginning is, all I want is for Harley Quinn to be one of those characters, the way, like, Macbeth or Batman always gets passed, you know, from great actor to great actor.”

 

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Joker: Folie à Deux, which means “shared madness” in French, is presumably set to take place after the events of the first film, which made history as the first R-rated flick to gross $1 billion at the box office. 

While it received mixed-to-positive reviews, Joker received 11 nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards – with Phoenix winning Best Actor.

Phillips returns for the sequel with a screenplay co-written with Scott Silver.

Zazie Beetz also reprises her role as Arthur’s love interest Sophie Dumond, with Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland and Harry Lawtey cast in undisclosed roles.

Joker: Folie à Deux is scheduled to be released on 4 October 2024.