Is The Batman Really Filming Without Robert Pattinson?

The Batman's production is paused once again.

After on-set reports revealed that star Robert Pattinson has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, production on Matt Reeves' The Batman was quickly shut down. According to a new scoop from Variety, however, the overall project remains undaunted by yet another delay.

With that said, previous reports that indicated that The Batman would resume filming without its lead actor have proven false; per Variety, The Daily Mail reported that the project would continue without Pattinson, but insiders have confirmed that won't happen.

In an official statement obtained by Variety, however, The Batman's home base, the United Kingdom, seems confident that this new issue won't throw The Batman — or any other film — off course too badly. Adrian Wootton, head of the British Film Commission, said, "We're confident that with all measures in place, any production will resume filming as soon as it's safe to do so. We also believe this will not impact production overall continuing in U.K., precisely because we have such robust health and safety measures operating, enabling our world-class film and high-end TV sector to get back up and running."

The Batman may be one of the most highly anticipated films of 2021, but its path to completion has been rocky, to say the very least. As one of the many, many film sets shuttered in the spring of 2020 when COVID-19 began its rapid spread throughout the globe, The Batman had only recently resumed filming in the London area before getting shut down again due to Pattinson's positive test result.

Fans have gotten a small glimpse of the finished film, even though Reeves and his crew confirmed that only about 25% of the filming has been completed during an event for DC's digital FanDome convention. During that same panel, the first trailer was released, wowing fans thanks to glimpses of Pattinson's Caped Crusader and villains like the Riddler (Paul Dano) and the Penguin (Colin Farrell).

In any case, we can only hope that Pattinson recovers quickly — whether or not the star has any symptoms is still unknown — and that production on The Batman can resume safely soon. As of this writing, The Batman is still set for release on October 1, 2021.