Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
The latest casting update for The Batman 2, also known as The Batman: Part II, is great news.

DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Batman 2 is scheduled to be released in United States theaters next year. Directed by Matt Reeves, the sequel to 2022’s The Batman will once again see Robert Pattinson play Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Why is the new cast addition to The Batman 2 exciting?

It was announced late last week, per Deadline, that Charles Dance has joined the cast of The Batman 2. The article reads, “While unconfirmed, it is believed Dance would play Charles Dent, father to Gotham district attorney Harvey Dent, who will be played by Sebastian Stan. Scarlett Johansson is on board to play Dent’s wife.”

While Dance isn’t as big a name as some of the other actors who previously were believed to be eyed by DC for this part — a list that includes Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, and Stellan Skarsgård — it’s a role that he can certainly nail. Plot details remain under wraps at this time, meaning we don’t know how large a role Charles Dent will have in the film or what his relationship with Harvey will look like; however, it seems more likely than not that it’ll at least be somewhat strained, for one reason or another.

Dance is no stranger to playing that. The actor is best known for playing Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones, and to say that he maybe wasn’t the best father to his children would be a bit of an understatement. He also just recently played a similar role in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein movie, as he was the stern father to Oscar Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein.

A huge star like Pitt or De Niro may have proven to be distracting in this role; with Dance, though, he’ll be able to do this part justice without taking us out of the movie. He’s got the chance to be a real scene-stealer, for however many scenes he ultimately has.

The Batman 2 arrives on October 1, 2027.