Did Todd Phillips confirm that ‘Joker 3’ will not be happening?

Todd Phillips’ Joker is quite possibly the modern equivalent of Fight Club for all the new edgy Letterboxd watchlists. And while it might have taken itself a bit too seriously, becoming every pretentious cinephile’s movie of the decade, Joker still managed to land a second installment despite it all.

At this point, we’re just waiting for more teasers and trailers after months of seeing Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix filming the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, in Los Angeles and New York. And truth be told, with all the leaks, it feels like we already know half of what’s going to happen — even against our will. Regardless, we’re just a few months away from seeing the final result, and there are already questions looming around about the possibility of a third installment.

Is Joker 3 happening?

According to Todd Phillips, the director of both films, a third Joker movie is highly unlikely. In a recent interview with Variety, Phillips admitted his reluctance to extend the story further. “I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world,” he said. While this isn’t an outright confirmation that Joker 3 won’t happen, it does suggest that there may simply be no more ideas on what they want to show the audience, and that they’ve decided to call it a day after Jolie à Deux hits theatres.

Phillips could easily take a simpler approach, like Marvel or DC, and choose to explore different timelines or storylines from the comics. However, Joker is hardly a stereotypical superhero movie, and milking it further might not be the best course of action for such an idiosyncratic film — in our opinion, that is. Martin Scorsese also knew when to end Taxi Driver, after all. Alright, we’re done with the jabs — for now.