Todd Phillips recently announced that development of his long-awaited Joker sequel is finally underway. The director posted two photos on social media: one of a screenplay cover bearing the working title Joker: Folie à Deux and one of Joaquin Phoenix flicking through his copy of the script.
This title translates to “folly of two,” or “madness [shared] by two,” a mental condition in which two people share the same delusions. Naturally, fans have speculated that the sequel’s storyline will revolve around a romance with Harley Quinn. Arthur Fleck was locked in Arkham Asylum at the end of the first movie, so the stage is set for Dr. Harleen Quinzel to steal his heart.
Helena Bonham Carter
Throughout her career, Helena Bonham Carter has been renowned for playing oddballs in movies like Fight Club, the Harry Potter series, and the delightfully bizarre works of Tim Burton. Although she was initially typecast as an “English rose,” Bonham Carter quickly left those roles behind and started playing darker, quirkier characters.
Bonham Carter leans into the mustache-twirling villainy of every antagonistic role, but also makes them surprisingly sympathetic. She’d make for an unforgettable Harley Quinn: eccentric yet nuanced.
Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett is one of the most versatile actors in the world, but she seems to have more fun than ever when she plays villainous roles. Blanchett has had a field day playing the pure evil of characters like goddess of death Hela in Thor: Ragnarok and callous CIA bureaucrat Marissa Wiegler in Hanna.
With the role of Harley Quinn, Blanchett could draw on her experiences of playing characters with mental struggles like Jasmine Francis, strong, self-assured women like Elizabeth I, and above all, shamelessly malicious villains like Hela and Wiegler.
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson has made a career out of bringing genuine depth and pathos to genre roles like Ahsoka Tano, Claire Temple, and Abernathy Ross. These characters all find themselves in speculative sci-fi/superhero/horror scenarios, but Dawson plays them as real people.
If Dawson was cast as Harley Quinn, she would lean into the character’s signature eccentricity, but she’d also bring a healthy dose of relatable humanity to the proceedings.
Winona Ryder
One of the biggest movie stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s, Winona Ryder recently made a comeback with the role of a suburban mom whose son is abducted by supernatural forces in Netflix’s sci-fi hit Stranger Things. But back in the day, Ryder was known for playing much weirder characters.
She played a character who fell in love with a scissor-handed loner and a character who fell in love with a murderous high schooler. She’d be a great choice for a character who falls in love with the Clown Prince of Crime.
Naomie Harris
From playing Moneypenny as a wisecracking field agent in the Bond films to playing a drug-addicted mother in Moonlight, Naomie Harris has demonstrated impressive range over the years.
The actor was massively underutilized in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Her turn as Shriek is a promising portrayal of a sympathetic supervillain, but she was let down by a lackluster script. After a disappointing Marvel villain role, Harris could instead play a more substantial DC villain role.
Lady Gaga
On top of being one of the most beloved and acclaimed pop stars in the world, Lady Gaga has become one of the most beloved and acclaimed movie stars in the past couple of years. Her turn as an aspiring singer in Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born exemplified her uncanny ability to disappear into an acting role, despite being one of the most recognizable celebrities on the planet.
More recently, in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, Lady Gaga left behind the warmth and relatability of her Star is Born role and played the fragile psyche and volatile emotions of a spouse who would hire hitmen to murder her estranged husband.
Ariana DeBose
Ariana DeBose is one of the most exciting rising stars in Hollywood. It’s only a matter of time before she gets snapped up by every cinematic universe in the modern blockbuster landscape. DeBose recently burst onto the scene with Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe wins for her turn as Anita in West Side Story.
With her performance as Anita, DeBose nailed the darkest scene in the musical. This notorious scene is the trickiest to pull off and DeBose executed it perfectly. It would be great to see her bring that level of tragedy to Harley Quinn.
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci recently returned to screens with the role of an executive at Thomas Anderson’s video game company in The Matrix Resurrections. As long as Warner Bros. has her bank details, she’d be a terrific choice for Harley Quinn in the Joker sequel.
Ricci is known for playing dark, unusual characters like Wednesday Addams, but she’s also proven that she’s capable of Oscar-caliber dramatic acting with roles like Aileen Wuornos’ girlfriend in Monster.
Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh has been receiving the best reviews of her career this year. She’s been a screen legend for decades, but she’s often relegated to roles that only utilize a small portion of her abilities, like a one-note love interest or a badass action hero. In Everything Everywhere All at Once, one of the greatest films of the year, Yeoh finally got to show off the full range of her acting talent.
If she can play a martial arts master, an emotionally distant wife and mother, and a hot-dog-fingered lovebird all in the same movie, she could bring real depth to the Joker’s psychotic soulmate.
Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton has played all kinds of oddballs over the years, from a winter-obsessed witch to a katana-wielding zombie killer to a rock star who’s lost her voice to a vampire who’s been stuck in an unhealthy relationship for centuries.
If Swinton was cast as Harley Quinn opposite Arthur Fleck’s Joker, she’d certainly give Joaquin Phoenix a run for his money as the most offbeat on-screen presence in the movie.