‘The Batman’: Jeffrey Wright In Talks to Play Commissioner Gordon, Jonah Hill in Undisclosed Villain Role

The Bat-signal once again lights up as two new bigshot actors join the cast of Matt Reeves’ The Batman.

As the rest of the upcoming project’s team assembles, The Hollywood Reporter recently revealed that Westworld star Jeffrey Wright is currently in negotiations to play Batman’s unofficial sidekick in Gotham City’s police force, Commissioner Jim Gordon. Robert Pattinson will don the Dark Knight’s cowl, with the story reportedly highlighting the hero’s detective skills as he takes on several villains from his rogue gallery. If his casting moves forward, Wright will be the third actor to play Jim Gordon after 2005’s Batman Begins. Gary Oldman played the character in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed trilogy while J.K. Simmons delivered another take on the role in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. On the small screen, Ben McKenzie played a younger version of the then-detective Gordon in FOX’s Batman prequel series Gotham opposite David Mazouz as the young Bruce Wayne.

It’s an odd but welcome deviation from the usual Jim Gordon portrayals that we’ve seen in recent media. Wright certainly has the potential to play a character that’s morally tied to the betterment of Gotham City; his roles in Westworld and The Goldfinch are a prime example of how he can tackle Jim Gordon’s character.

Meanwhile, another report from THR says that Mid90s director and 21 Jump Street actor Jonah Hill is also in talks to play one of Batman’s iconic foes—though the exact character remains unspecified. THR’s Borys Kit revealed via a Twitter post that both Warner Bros. and Hill are having a hard time figuring out which villain the actor should play. “Talks are in the super-sensitive stage and have been ongoing for a while,” Kit writes.

Yes it's true: Jonah Hill in talks to play a villain in THE BATMAN. But which one? Hint: Not even Warners nor Hill know…because they can't decide on it! (That's why talks are in the super-sensitive stage and have been ongoing for a while.) https://t.co/JfqtMQTjkl

— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) September 23, 2019

From the looks of it, though, Hill has the acting chops to bring in both a serious vibe or a comedic tone to his future character. The actor has transitioned to more “serious” roles in the last several years after garnering an Oscar nomination for his roles in 2012’s Moneyball and 2014’s The Wolf of Wall Street alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.

Among the vast roster of Batman villains Hill could play are Penguin and Riddler (as referenced in Kit’s tweet), or even Black Mask (a role currently portrayed by Ewan McGregor in Birds of Prey) and the Mad Hatter. Given Hill’s flexibility as an actor, the possibilities for him to play any Batman villain are endless. For now, we leave Hill’s The Batman role to your imagination.

The Batman will reportedly begin filming in London on January 13, 2020 and is slated for release on June 25, 2021.