Andy Serkis has been confirmed to play Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman by director Matt Reeves. Previously, Serkis had been reported to be in talks for a role in the movie, and it was then revealed he was in talks to play the Wayne family butler. Convincing fan art of Serkis in character had also been created in anticipation of his potential casting. In a new tweet posted by Reeves, the filmmaker shows a video clip of Serkis running down the red carpet and high-fiving fans, captioned with a bat emoji and the message, "Here comes Alfred!" This apparently confirmed Serkis has been cast in the role, giving us our next big screen version of the character. You can see the tweet for yourself below.

Andy Serkis is perhaps best known for his extraordinary work with motion-captured performances, which includes playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong in 2005's King Kong movie, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot series, Baloo in Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Serkis has also been commended for his roles as serial killer Ian Brady in Longford and as punk rocker Ian Dury in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, and has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Uylsses Klaue. A talented and well-regarded actor, Serkis will undoubtedly make a fine Alfred Pennyworth.

The Alfred Pennyworth character has always been depicted as very helpful to the Wayne family and can often be seen assisting Batman around the Batcave, but the character has been used much more prominently in recent years. In the prequel series Gotham, Sean Pertwee played a much more badass version of the character compared to other iterations of Alfred, and Jack Bannon now plays a young Alfred working as a spy in the origin series Pennyworth. On the big screen, the character has been played by a variety of actors including Jeremy Irons and Michael Caine. Most recently, he was portrayed by Douglas Hodge in the Todd Phillips movie Joker where he defends Bruce when the titular villain shows up outside of Wayne Manor.

Recently, it was also revealed Colin Farrell was in talks to play one of the movie's primary villains in Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepot. Several other names have been officially confirmed as a part of The Batman as well, with Paul Dano as the Riddler and Zoë Kravitz (Big Little Lies) as Catwoman playing two of the other villains. Additionally, Westworld star Jeffrey Wright was also confirmed by Reeves to be playing Commissioner James Gordon in the movie, and newcomer Jayme Lawson has been cast in a mystery role. As we all know, Robert Pattinson will be playing the lead role of Bruce Wayne in the movie, as his casting was the first to be officially revealed for the project.

The Batman is set to be released in theaters on June 25, 2021. Production will reportedly begin early in 2020, and more official casting announcements should be arriving in the near future. The names added to the project in an official capacity so far have been on point, so it's okay to start getting excited for the movie's release. This news comes to us from Matt Reeves on Twitter.