Robert Pattinson has given his first public reaction to Steven Soderbergh taking over the final weeks of shooting on The Batman: Part II, and he sounds relieved rather than rattled. “I am so happy he’s come on to help Matt,” the actor said in an interview published on Monday, October 26, calling the offer “completely selfless.”
Pattinson was speaking while promoting his new film Primetime, and he also gave the clearest sign yet that the sequel is moving again. Asked when cameras would roll, he answered: “I think they’re in production already. And I’m starting in a couple of days.”
What Pattinson said about Soderbergh and Reeves
The star framed the handover as a favor between filmmakers, with Matt Reeves still steering. “I think Matt had put so much work into the script, and we’re almost done,” he said, before describing Soderbergh’s pitch in his own paraphrase: “I just want to help Matt do it; I want to do it in conjunction with him and just get it to the edit.”
He also called the arrangement “incredibly generous” and said that having “someone who’s as talented as Steven doing it is great.”
Those words line up with what the people involved have said publicly. Production was paused in early October while Reeves stepped back from the set for a family matter, and the studio has not shared details beyond that. DC Studios later said it was Soderbergh who approached Reeves with the offer to finish principal photography. Reeves then posted on X: “Just to be clear, I am not leaving ‘The Batman Part II.’ I am profoundly grateful to Steven for coming to my aid during this challenging time to help me finish principal photography.”
DC Studios co-chief James Gunn wrote on Threads that “Matt is still the director of ‘The Batman 2’ and always will be.” Soderbergh’s own statement said his aim was to shoot footage that matches what is already in the can “so Matt can properly finish his film.” Reeves is expected to lead the edit once he returns.
A sequel delayed three times
The Soderbergh episode is the latest turn in a long road for the follow-up to the 2022 film. A short timeline shows how far the target has drifted:
- April 2022: Warner Bros. announces a sequel, with Reeves writing and directing and Pattinson returning.
- January 2023: DC Studios names it The Batman – Part II and dates it for October 3, 2025.
- March 2024: The date slips to October 2, 2026, after the 2023 Hollywood strikes tied up stages.
- December 2024: It moves again, to October 1, 2027, to give Reeves more writing time.
- June 2025: Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin announce the script is finished.
- June 12, 2026: Principal photography starts, mainly at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden outside London.
- July 2026: The release shifts to February 18, 2028, to allow extra post-production time.
- October 2026: Filming pauses, and Soderbergh is brought in to complete the remaining weeks.
Put in numbers, the current date sits 868 days after the original October 3, 2025 slot, or roughly two years and four months of slippage. From this week, audiences still have 479 days to wait.
Why the handover matters for the release date
So far, nobody at the studio has said the February 2028 date is in danger, and Pattinson’s “we’re almost done” is the strongest hint that the remaining shoot is short. That matters because the July delay was explicitly about post-production time, not filming. If Soderbergh wraps the outstanding scenes on schedule, the cushion built into that move should still be there for Reeves in the edit.
The shoot has already covered a lot of ground. Beyond the Leavesden stages, the production filmed in Liverpool and around the old Birkenhead Tunnel, spent three weeks on Glasgow’s riverside and bridges from August 18, and used St Paul’s Cathedral in London to stand in for Gotham locations in September.
The cast Soderbergh inherits is a large one. Pattinson returns as Bruce Wayne alongside Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred and Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb. Newcomers include Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson and Charles Dance, with Sebastian Koch and Brian Tyree Henry in roles that have not been announced. The story is set in winter, after the flooding of Gotham seen at the end of the first film.
Pattinson’s busy year
The actor has had an unusually crowded 2026, with The Odyssey and The Drama already out and Dune: Part Three still to come. Primetime, the film he was promoting when he made these comments, is playing in US theaters and arrives on digital on November 3. UK audiences get preview screenings from October 28, ahead of a full cinema release on Friday, October 30.
Further reading
Image: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.
