The 'Joker' Sequel Showcases Lady Gaga in Character for the First Time

In Joker: Folie à deux, Lady Gaga gets a close-up, and filmmaker Todd Phillips shares her character for the first time on Instagram. It was obviously for Valentine's Day.

Gaga is expected to reprise her role as DC's Harley Quinn in the sequel to Joker, which grossed $1 billion and earned Joaquin Phoenix the best actor Oscar.

Phillips directs the film once more, which he co-wrote with Scott Silver. Phillips shared looks at Phoenix throughout the previous Joker, a tradition he continued when he took to Instagram on December 10 to announce filming had begun with a photo of his leading man.

Filming is currently in progress in New York and Los Angeles, with a release date of October 4, 2024 set by Warner Bros. Gaga previously collaborated with Phillips on the film A Star Is Born, which he produced.

The first Joker was a surprise success, becoming one of the highest-grossing DC films of all time. It followed Arthur Fleck, a stand-up comedian and clown whose mental health issues cause him to spiral after rejection after rejection. He eventually takes on the Joker persona and becomes a folk hero. The sequel's title, Folie à Deux, refers to a medical term for a mental disorder that affects two or more people, usually members of a close family.

The Joker sequel arrives as DC enters a period of transition, with recently installed DC Studios chiefs James Gunn as well as Peter Safran constructing a slate of film, TV, animation, and video game projects given in a shared universe. Rare projects, such as Joker or Matt Reeves' The Batman sequel, will be welcomed and branded as DC Elseworlds titles, a term derived from comic books in which alternate universe stories are told.

"The bar will be very high for projects that are outside of the DCU, the Elseworlds projects," Safran explained last month. "However, every now and then, something will come along that lives up to that."