There’s a lump-in-the-throat quality to what Barry Keoghan has just done for Katie Taylor, and anyone who’s watched Ireland fall in love with her over the past two decades will feel it too. The BAFTA-winning star of THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, SALTBURN, PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN and TOP BOY has lent his voice to a tribute video for the woman he calls Ireland’s greatest ever athlete, arriving just days before Taylor steps into the ring for the very last time. She headlines at Croke Park this Saturday in front of 80,000 fans, live worldwide on DAZN and non-exclusively at home on RTÉ, chasing a third reign as Undisputed Super Lightweight Champion against France’s unbeaten Flora Pili, with the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine belts all on the line.

Directed by Matchroom Boxing’s Alex Haines, the film traces Taylor’s journey from a girl walking into a Bray boxing gym at a time when the sport barely believed women belonged there, through Ireland, Europe and the world, to a homecoming five decades in the making — the first professional fight at Croke Park since Muhammad Ali fought there in 1972. Keoghan’s narration leans into that sense of history repeating itself, closing on the idea that Taylor’s story began at home and now, fittingly, ends there too.

What makes Keoghan’s involvement land so hard isn’t just the star wattage, it’s the sincerity behind it — a fellow Dubliner and self-declared boxing fan putting his own name and craft behind hers at the exact moment she needs it most. Keoghan opens with a line that’s already being quoted across Irish sports media, about greatness rarely being found in the loudest voice, and it sets the tone for a tribute that treats Taylor less as a departing champion and more as a piece of the national story. Given how the tickets vanished in seventeen minutes flat, it’s clear the country agrees.

Barry Keoghan is set to return to Irish storytelling with LEMONADE, an intimate indie drama that marks documentary filmmaker Kim Bartley’s narrative feature debut, and the first details and images have now arrived. Set against the backdrop of Ireland’s care system, LEMONADE is billed as a story of first loves, second chances and the power of human connection, and one striking first-look still shows Keoghan’s character Josh sitting in a car with tears in his eyes, hinting at the emotional weight the film carries.

The story follows teenager Danny, played by Lewis Brophy, whose life is thrown off course by a single mistake that threatens his future. Danny unexpectedly reconnects with Josh, a former social worker who once tried to help him but whose own missteps had driven the two apart. As they find their way back to one another, Josh once again attempts to guide Danny toward manhood, and Danny comes to learn that the people who believe in you most can become family, blood ties or not.

Brophy comes to LEMONADE fresh off the acclaimed Berlinale prizewinner CHRISTY, continuing a strong run for the young Irish talent. The film, shot earlier this year in Dublin, also stars Carla Tous, Eileen Walsh and Imelda May. Rachel Lysaght and Farah Abushwesha produce, with an executive producer roster that includes Bartley herself alongside Geraldine East, Niamh Fagan, Desmond Byrne, Lorcan Kavanagh, Peg Cafferty, Deepak Sikka, Mark Foligno and Sire Ramos. Keoghan also serves as an executive producer through his newly launched production company Wolfcub, whose debut feature BUTTERFLY JAM, also starring Keoghan, opened the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Speaking to Variety ahead of Cannes, Keoghan reflected on LEMONADE‘s deeply personal resonance, noting the clear parallels between Danny’s story and his own upbringing as a foster child in Dublin, a connection that lends the project an unmistakable authenticity.

The wait is over. The question that’s been looming since Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne first locked eyes with that scarred, unsettling figure in Arkham has finally been answered, as Barry Keoghan is officially set to return as the Joker in Matt Reeves’ THE BATMAN: PART 2.

Keoghan’s original appearance in THE BATMAN was brief but unforgettable, showing up as an unnamed Arkham State Hospital prisoner whose grotesquely scarred face and menacing rapport with Pattinson’s Batman left audiences absolutely certain they were witnessing the early formation of something genuinely dangerous. Reeves himself described the character at the time as a “pre-Joker Joker,” a deliberately incomplete figure not yet the fully-formed villain audiences know, which made the prospect of a sequel appearance all the more loaded with possibility.

Keoghan won’t be the only formidable new addition to the villain lineup either. Sebastian Stan has been reported in a casting detailed enough to point toward him playing Harvey Dent, the Gotham district attorney whose descent becomes Two-Face, setting up what could be a significant arc across this chapter and beyond. Scarlett Johansson, making a notable leap from Marvel to the DC universe, has also been reported as joining the film in a mystery role, with speculation swirling around a character who functions as both villain and love interest.

With Keoghan now confirmed, the central question hanging over this Gotham chapter is no longer whether the Joker will appear, but how fully Reeves intends to unleash him, and what that unleashing looks like inside his grimy, grounded vision of the city.

Barry Keoghan has long been obsessed with joining the PEAKY BLINDERS universe, but timing was never on his side—until now. The 33-year-old Dublin actor spent years pestering casting directors with hopeful texts asking if there was any chance of landing a role in Steven Knight’s phenomenon series, only to be repeatedly told it was an availability issue. That all changed when he was offered the opportunity to play Cillian Murphy’s son in PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN, the highly anticipated feature continuation that just hit UK and Irish cinemas. It was, as Keoghan puts it, a no-brainer.

Sitting down with David McCullagh on RTE Radio One, Keoghan reflected on how much the iconic show means to him and how surreal it felt to finally step into its world. He spoke candidly about the nerves that come with joining such a beloved series with a fiercely dedicated fanbase—there’s always pressure to live up to expectations when stepping into an established universe. But those concerns dissolved when he realized he’d be working directly with Steven Knight himself and Cillian Murphy, the show’s magnetic centerpiece. Having those creative heavyweights in his corner was reassurance enough that he’d be in good hands.

It’s worth noting that Keoghan and Murphy had already formed a genuine friendship on the set of Christopher Nolan’s DUNKIRK, where they worked together years earlier. Their on-screen chemistry and off-screen rapport made the reunion feel less like a professional obligation and more like a natural collaboration between two actors who genuinely respect each other’s craft. That existing relationship likely made the transition into PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN feel more comfortable, even as the weight of joining such a legendary project settled in.

The path to landing this role had an unexpectedly human touch. Keoghan revealed that a cheeky Father’s Day text to Knight ultimately helped seal the deal—a small, personal gesture that somehow bridged the gap between years of unanswered casting inquiries and finally getting his shot at the role he’d been chasing. It’s the kind of story that reminds us that sometimes persistence mixed with a bit of humor and genuine passion can crack open doors that seemed firmly shut.

The early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with audiences particularly praising Keoghan’s performance in the film. His portrayal of Murphy’s son has resonated with both longtime PEAKY BLINDERS devotees and newcomers alike, proving that his years of wanting to be part of this world weren’t misplaced enthusiasm. He brought something authentic and compelling to the character, making the film’s release feel like a genuine cultural moment rather than just another franchise extension.

Beyond PEAKY BLINDERS, Keoghan has been championing fellow Irish talent as the awards season reaches its crescendo. He’s been enthusiastically supporting his pal Jessie Buckley, who’s nominated for an Oscar for her extraordinary performance in Chloé Zhao’s HAMNET. Keoghan’s praise for Buckley is genuine and effusive—he watched the film at Paul Mescal’s invitation and found himself crying, deeply moved by the emotional depth and grace of her work. He’s hopeful that Irish luck will carry Buckley through on Oscars night, recognizing that she’s delivered something truly special that deserves recognition on cinema’s biggest stage.

There’s something touching about the way Keoghan speaks about his peers and his craft—he’s clearly someone who loves cinema in its truest form, who gets moved by great acting and great storytelling, and who understands that landing a role in something as culturally significant as PEAKY BLINDERS is a gift earned through perseverance. His journey to this moment, marked by years of hope, a lucky Father’s Day text, and finally, an opportunity to shine alongside one of Ireland’s finest actors, tells a story about never giving up on the work that matters to you. For fans of PEAKY BLINDERS, his presence in THE IMMORTAL MAN feels less like a casting choice and more like an inevitability—like he was always meant to be part of this world.

Barry Keoghan has always had that raw, unpredictable energy that makes you lean forward in your seat, and in CRIME 101, the Dublin actor unleashes it with the kind of ferocity that threatens to steal the entire film from under Chris Hemsworth’s polished nose. Playing Ormon, a rogue thief with something to prove and nothing to lose, Keoghan brings the same feral intensity that made him unforgettable in LOVE/HATE, transplanting that Dublin edge straight into the sun-bleached sprawl of Los Angeles where it burns twice as bright and twice as dangerous. Director Bart Layton, who clearly recognized what Keoghan was capable of when he cast him in AMERICAN ANIMALS, has given the actor room to breathe and bite, and bite he does, sinking his teeth into a role that could have been a throwaway wildcard but instead becomes the film’s beating, anarchic heart.

Hemsworth’s jewel thief is all smooth surfaces and careful calculation, a career criminal executing his biggest score alongside Halle Berry’s insurance broker, but it’s Keoghan’s Ormon who threatens to blow the whole operation apart, not through incompetence but through sheer, rabid unpredictability. He bounces between moments of genuine criminal skill and flashes of pure psychopathy, a live wire that could spark brilliance or catastrophe at any second, and that tension is what makes CRIME 101 crackle with the kind of energy that elevates it beyond standard heist fare.

Like all the best heist films, this one understands that the pleasure isn’t just in watching the plan unfold but in feeling the constant threat that everything could collapse, and Keoghan embodies that threat entirely, a desperate young man hungry to prove he belongs in a world of professionals even as his instability suggests he might destroy it from within. Layton gives audiences the satisfaction of being in on the robbery, that delicious voyeuristic thrill of watching the pieces come together, but he’s smart enough to let Keoghan be the chaos agent who reminds us that no plan survives contact with real human desperation, and the result is a performance that doesn’t just support the film but hijacks it in the best possible way, turning what could have been a sleek, forgettable thriller into something with genuine teeth and unpredictable bite.