Matt Reeves is "finishing up the script" for 'The Batman Part II'.

The 58-year-old director has revealed that he plans to begin filming for the superhero sequel "next year" and confirmed that Colin Farrell's Oswald Cobbelpot/Penguin will be featuring in the flick.

Matt told SFX magazine: "Colin (Farrell) will be part of the movie. We've shared (the script) as we've been going along with DC and the studio and they're super excited."

'The Batman' universe is set to branch out into TV with 'The Penguin' series and Reeves explained that it will serve as an "entry point" into the sequel – which will be released in cinemas in 2026.

The filmmaker said: "There are details that actually connect right into the way the next movie begins, and the way that Oz enters that world as we hand the baton back to Batman, and Batman is on another case."

Robert Pattinson will be returning as the Caped Crusader in the sequel but Matt decided to ignore fan pleas to introduce the supernatural villain Gentleman Ghost as the character does not fit in with his gritty take on Gotham City.

The 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' director said: "What was important to me was to find a way to take these pop icons, these mythical characters that everybody knows, and translate it so that Gotham feels like a place in our world.

"We might push to the edge of the fantastical but we would never go into full fantastical. It's meant to feel quite grounded."

Reeves added: "It doesn't mean that you won't see characters that people love. That's exactly what we want to do.

"Gentleman Ghost is probably pushed a bit too far for us to be able to find a way to do, but there is a fun way to think about how we would take characters that might push over into a bit of the fantastical and find a way to make sense of that."