Via Deadline, DC Studios has announced the legendary Steven Soderbergh will fill in for director Matt Reeves on The Batman Part II, who stepped away from the set last week to deal with an undisclosed family matter. Soderbergh, whose credits include the Ocean’s movies, and many more, will call the shots on the final weeks of filming for the sequel, and oversee post-production until Reeves is ready to return, with the two staying in communication until then.
Soderbergh, 63, said in a statement, “I thought Matt Reeves’ work on The Batman was stunning; it was intentional, specific, and rigorously coherent. The goal here is to work with Matt and his team to generate footage that will integrate seamlessly with what’s already been shot so Matt can properly finish his film.”
Reeves, 60, also 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. Thank you to all for your concern and well wishes.”
Like the pair say, this is not a repeat of when Joss Whedon overhauled 2017’s Justice League after director Zack Snyder similarly stepped away following a family tragedy, and instead closer to when George Lucas oversaw post-production on Jurassic Park while Steven Spielberg was filming Schindler’s List in 1993.
Soderbergh’s use of the word “generate” is interesting given he has defended the use of generative AI, which he employed on this year’s documentary film John Lennon: The Last Interview. However, since he is directing in Reeves’s stead, it is unlikely he will use AI on The Batman Part II if he doesn’t want him to.
In any case, it is a very generous decision from Soderbergh (who has not worked with Reeves until now), given he has many of his own projects in the pipeline. The Batman Part II will mark his first movie based on a comic, although he is no stranger to genre fare, having directed second unit on the first Hunger Games film from 2012, and unsuccessfully pitched the Star Wars spin-off The Hunt for Ben Solo to Disney.
The Batman Part II, starring Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Charles Dance, Brian Tyree Henry, Sebastian Koch, and Jayme Lawson, will arrive in theaters on February 18, 2028, five years and 11 months after Reeves’s first Batman film. Soderbergh previously worked with Stan on Logan Lucky (2017), and Wright on The Laundromat (2019).
