Batgirl 2 Already In The Works?
Are they already betting on it to succeed?
Batgirl just wrapped filming at the end of March. While there’s been no official release date announced, the movie is expected to stream on HBO Max some time this year. In the meantime, almost all of Warner Bros’ tentpole 2022 movies have been pushed back — some pushed back as far as next year, which could ultimately translate into a delay for Batgirl. In spite of it all, according to Leslie Grace, who will play the titular crimefighter, work on Batgirl 2 may already be under way.
The In the Heights star all but confirmed Batgirl 2 while speaking to Variety in an interview posted to the site on Thursday. When asked when she would begin shooting the sequel, Leslie Grace laughed and responded, “We got to see this first one first. But there’s definitely some talks about what it could be… We’ve already been talking about where do we take this from here because there’s so much that happens in this film.” So at the very least, we know the screenwriters and/or directors are beginning to conceptualize how the story of Barbara Gordon will continue.
From what Grace told Variety, the making of Batgirl sounds like an extremely challenging but equally rewarding experience. Speaking of night shoots and trying days of working on involved action sequences, the actress said, “Never in my life have I’ve been so sore or depleted. There were some days I would get home and I would think, ‘Do I want to eat or am I just going to fall asleep?’” But for all that, Grace sounds excited for the world to see what her, her co-stars, and the crew of Batgirl have accomplished. “There’s some crazy stuff that happens. There’s lots of fire… There’s crazy fire. There’s crazy stunts, crazy drops. She’s a biker chick, so you’re going to see her do a bunch of badassery.” If Batgirl 2 is bound to happen, it sounds like they’ll have to turn it up a few notches.
Leslie Grace had wonderful things to say about many of her co-stars, including Brendan Fraser who will play the pyromaniac Garfield Lynns aka Firefly. “It was an incredible learning experience to be on set with also action veterans like Brendan Fraser,” Grace said. “It was so hard because he’s our villain and I’m not supposed to like him but he’s such a huge teddy bear. He is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met.”
There was another star the future (?) star of Batgirl 2 couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by. J.K. Simmons will reprise the role of Commissioner Gordon in Batgirl, which he originally played in 2017’s Justice League. Grace’s character is Gordon’s daughter, and the actress said at first, it was impossible to not think of another Simmons film while working with him. “I was so nervous because all I could hear in my head was his voice in Whiplash,” Grace said. “Like what would he do and say if I didn’t get something right? Then we became the best of friends.” If you’re unfamiliar — in 2014’s Whiplash Simmons plays an unhinged jazz instructor prone to unleashing obscenity-laden screaming rants on his students and even at one point hurling a metal folding chair at Miles Teller’s head. It’s no mystery why Grace was a bit “nervous” before getting to know him.
Assuming Batgirl 2 does happen, there may be at least one other film that will lead out of Batgirl. Last August, Deadline reported that a Black Canary movie was in the works with Jurnee Smollett reprising the role she first played in 2020’s Birds of Prey. In the meantime, Black Canary references are definitely going to appear in Batgirl, if not the character herself.
