For a film that was absolutely bursting at the seams with buzz-worthy potential, Suicide Squad failed to become more than the sum of its parts.
Be it the rough CGI or convoluted script – to be fair, director David Ayer has since admitted that he regrets his decision to shun Jared Leto’s Clown Prince of Crime – the anti-hero spinoff was a real misfire and a huge waste of potential. But there’s still hope for Task Force X, as Suicide Squad 2 is moving forward and it just scored a big win.
After learning that the pic will be titled The Suicide Squad and release in August of 2021, we’re now hearing from The Hollywood Reporter that James Gunn, who was already attached to write the film, will now direct it as well. That’s not terribly surprising, as it’s what we all expected, but it’s nice to get some firm confirmation regardless.
What’s perhaps more interesting is that THR’s report says that The Suicide Squad will be a “relaunch” of the franchise, one that will take it in a new direction and feature “mostly an all-new cast of characters and actors.” Not only that, but it’s said that the movie is very much “rooted in Gunn’s vibe, as seen in the Guardians of the Galaxy films.”
So, it looks like the filmmaker will have the creative freedom to apply his own vision to the property then. That being said, David Ayer has gone on record several times now to explain how the first film’s final version was vastly different from its original cut, so there’s no guarantee that DC won’t end up tampering with things at some point. But for now, it sounds like they’re giving Gunn some breathing room to do his thing, which is great to hear.
As for which characters will feature and which actors will bring them to life, that’s too hard to say at the moment, but as more updates on The Suicide Squad arise, we’ll be sure to let you know.
