I wanted to sort of go back and recap:
The Batman: Part 2 will be set in the winter and focused heavily on Bruce. Matt says that Bruce will still be grappling with the aftermath of the events in the first film and find it difficult being Batman, because the city is divided and he sort of blames himself for what happened. In The Batman: Part 1, Batman saw the world very simplistically and that’s how he approached everything, but now things are much more grey and obscure. Now, the main villain comes from Bruce’s past who not only gives us a deep dive into that, but also challenges who he is as Bruce and Batman. This connection between Bruce and the villain, Matt says, has never really been done this way in a movie before. Meanwhile, Bella Reál has formed an anti-corruption task force that targets cops, city officials and Falcone’s associates. Penguin is one of these targets, but he also has a “pal” in the government.
Quotes from Matt:
“I think the story is a continuation, in a certain way, and completely different in another. It’s going to show different sides of Rob. I think it’s going to be really exciting, I think it’s going to be really cool.”
"These movies are very much telling the story of Batman's emotional arc, and the story is his point of view. Because they're mystery stories we're learning about other characters as they're involved in the detective story, so we're learning about them through him. A lot of times what happens is you establish the Batman in the first movie and then the next movie is the Riddler's movie or the Joker's movie and the rogues' gallery takes centre stage. I wanted to find a way to keep Batman as the central arc of the movies."
"Our entry point is absolutely connected to where we leave things in the [Penguin] series. 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.
I would like these stories to be a meditation on the way Gotham is the way it is. It's such a brutal place and we're digging for the answers as to why these people's lives are this way. It's another mystery that's going to dig into the epic story about deeper corruption and it goes into places that he (Bruce) couldn't even anticipate in the first one. The seeds of where this goes are all in the first movie, and it expands in a way that will show you aspects of the character you never got to see.
Batman is constantly battling these forces. But those forces can't be entirely exorcised. So the next movie delves deeper into that."
Quote from Collin:
“ [The Batman: Part 2] is deeper, it's scarier. The stakes are higher emotionally.... Just as a fan of scripts and stories and films, it's so brilliant. And Matt, he took his time and he created just an extraordinary story, really. So full of feeling, really sad in parts. I'm very excited to see it, whatever my involvement in it."
As of now, the only cast members that have read the script and are officially set to return are Rob, Collin, Jeff and Andy.