Despite making amends with Disney and being rehired on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn is still signed up to helm The Suicide Squad for DC. As you might expect, the filmmaker’s going to put his own stamp on Task Force X and move things away from David Ayer’s flick. So whatever you do, don’t call it a sequel.
In fact, DC producer Peter Safran views it as “a total reboot,” telling JoBlo the following:
“First of all, we don’t call it Suicide Squad 2 ‘cause it’s a total reboot, so it’s The Suicide Squad and I think people should be extremely excited about it. It’s everything you would hope from a James Gunn script and I think that says a lot and that promises a lot and I know that we will deliver a lot.”
Reboot is a word that’s been diluted by overuse in recent years, so it’s not always clear what it means anymore. In this case though, the evidence is suggesting that TSS is a bonafide reboot (see: a movie that won’t keep the continuity of the previous one). As well as being expected to feature a whole new cast, actors from the first outing could be replaced with new faces, too. For instance, reports say that Idris Elba might take over from Will Smith as Floyd Lawton AKA Deadshot.
Going by Safran’s comments, it seems the studio is keen not to disappoint the fans this time, after 2016’s Suicide Squad was given a heavy bashing from DC lovers. Many saw it as the DCEU’s answer to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, too, so it’s fitting and a little ironic that they ended up getting the director of that franchise to steer the property back on track.
Not that Suicide Squad is being wiped from memory completely, mind you. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn – widely agreed to be the best thing about the original – is expected to reprise her fan favorite role in Gunn’s follow-up, which will come after her second appearance as the Clown Princess in 2020’s Birds of Prey.
Word has it that The Suicide Squad could shoot this fall, before arriving in 2021, and we’ll let you know once we learn more about what’s being planned for us.