The roster expanding out of Gotham City is looking darker than ever, with the possible announcement that Charles Dance—the accomplished British actor known for his impressive performance as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones—is in talks to join DC Studios’ The Batman Part II. If an agreement is reached, Dance will join Robert Pattinson, who returns to portray the Caped Crusader for Matt Reeves’ sequel version of the film. According to sources, Dance has been approached about taking on the character of Charles Dent, father of Harvey Dent (who will be portrayed by Sebastian Stan), of the Gotham City District Attorney’s Office; Scarlett Johansson has already been cast as Dent’s wife.
This possibility supports Reeves’ grounded, noir-style vision for developing the Batman universe that he established with the first installment of the series in The Batman, released in 2022, grossing more than $772 million worldwide and securing Warner Bros a large post-COVID theatrical success.
Production on The Batman Part II is set to begin this spring with a theatrical release scheduled for October 1, 2027. James Gunn, Peter Safran, and Dylan Clark serve as producers for the project, with no official comment from DC Studios at this time on new casting news.
Dance has depicted many powerful and multifaceted father figures in such projects as The Crown, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and the latest adaptation of Day of the Jackal. For this reason, he should be an obvious choice when selecting a father for the Dent family within the darkly complex and corrupt fabric of Gotham City’s politics.
The addition of Dance will allow the sequel to delve even further into the world of Gotham’s upper-class citizens, including Harvey Dent’s backstory, which would create the groundwork for future Two-Face plotlines within the franchise’s existing successful ensemble. Fans have praised this casting by referring to it as “god-tier” and believe that Dance’s presence will substantially increase the value of the acclaimed ensemble cast already associated with the franchise.