Leonardo DiCaprio Confirms Heat 2 Role, Reveals Major New Details

Leonardo DiCaprio just did the thing: he says he’s in for Michael Mann’s Heat 2. Yes, that Heat 2 — the follow-up that’s both a prequel and a sequel to Mann’s 1995 classic, and based on the 2022 novel Mann co-wrote with Meg Gardiner.

Where this leaves Heat 2

DiCaprio confirmed to Deadline that he’ll star, but here’s the twist: he and Mann are still figuring out which character he’ll actually play. He also made it clear the film isn’t shooting anytime soon — they’re still working through it, and production is a ways off.

"We can’t duplicate what Heat was, so it’s paying homage to that film, but giving it its own unique entity."

He framed the movie as something that stands on its own rather than a replay of the original. It nods to Heat and then moves forward from there — and back. The story jumps both ahead and behind that pivotal moment from the first film. DiCaprio also pointed out there’s no big secrecy here because the book is already out; if you’ve read it, you know the territory. He called Heat the crime noir of his lifetime, which, fair.

The recent casting chessboard

• October 2025: Deadline’s Justin Kroll reported that Mann met with a lot of actors about Heat 2 and that DiCaprio was still a maybe at the time.
• Shortly after that report: Christian Bale entered negotiations to star.
• Now: DiCaprio says he’s officially on board, character TBD, and the movie is still a distance from production.

What Heat 2 actually is

It’s the screen version of Mann and Meg Gardiner’s 2022 crime novel, which operates as both a continuation and an origin story for the world of Heat. The film will span time — both before and after the events of the 1995 movie — and, according to DiCaprio, it’s designed as its own standalone thing rather than a straight-up echo of the original.

Release date?

Nothing announced yet.