Though most of the recent conversations around Matt Reeves’ The Batman have concerned the question of who the next Caped Crusader will be, Ralph Fiennes has now thrown his hat in the ring to star as the next live-action Alfred Pennyworth.
Of course, one major obstacle to Fiennes landing the part is that the DCEU already has a perfectly fine Alfred in Jeremy Irons. And since we’ve seen no indication that Irons is about to depart from the role, the question of whether Fiennes might want to fill his shoes is purely hypothetical at this point.
Still, having voiced the character in The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Fiennes certainly has the track record to suggest he’d be a good fit. And in an interview with HeyUGuys at the premiere of The White Crow, the actor made it clear that he’d accept the call to be the next live-action Alfred if asked:
“Yes, yes! I’d love to be Alfred! A lot of good people have gone before me, so I’d be happy to follow in their footsteps.”
If there’s any reason for The Batman to recast Alfred, it would likely be that the movie is expected to take the action back to the Dark Knight’s younger years. That being said, as Samuel L. Jackson’s recent turn in Captain Marvel amply demonstrates, the technology is surely there for Irons to be de-aged a decade or two if need be.
As it stands, however, it’s unclear if Reeves’ film will even include an Alfred, though either way, most fans these days are much more concerned about the matter of who the next Bruce Wayne will be. The internet has offered plenty of rumors and suggestions already for who could be next to sport the cape and cowl, but whoever Warner Bros. ends up settling on, we’ll be able to see them in action when The Batman hits theaters on June 25th, 2021.