Here’s Why Gavin O’Connor’s No Longer Directing Suicide Squad 2

You’d think after the first Suicide Squad proved to be a financial and merchandising success that Warner Bros. would’ve had a sequel dated and well into production by now, but that just hasn’t happened. Instead, Margot Robbie’s next outing as Harley Quinn will arrive in Birds of Prey, which I’m very much looking forward to. Still, it’s hard not bringing up the absence of Task Force X.

Well, today has certainly brought a lot of news regarding the subject, as it was revealed earlier by The Wrap that Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has made the jump to DC, and will possibly write and direct Suicide Squad 2. Not only that, but he may reboot the whole thing as well.

Naturally, this has caused everyone to wonder what’s up with Gavin O’Connor, who’d previously been announced as director. Well, according to Variety’s Justin Kroll, there’s a bit of drama going on behind the scenes:

“On the Gavin O’Connor front in relation to SS2, hearing the story he had for the sequel ended up almost being identical to the BIRDS OF PREY story and when that film was given the go ahead to go before SQUAD 2, O’Connor grew frustrated and fell off project to do HAS BEEN instead.”

Actually, this sounds believable to me, because I remember Beyond The Trailer’s Grace Randolph saying back in July that WB allowed for Margot Robbie to pluck the idea for a team saving a young girl from a supervillain – though perhaps not necessarily Cassandra Cain – from O’Connor to use in Birds of Prey.

If this is indeed the case, then I wish everyone all the best with their respective projects going forward. But in the case of Suicide Squad 2, I hope that Gunn doesn’t opt for a full reboot because, again, there was stuff about the first one that worked, and you’re more likely to run into fans of it on the street and at conventions than you are Batman V Superman supporters. In other words, take what resonated with audiences (Harley Quinn and Deadshot) and build on that.