DC and Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad was a notoriously troubled film, with reports indicating that director David Ayer’s original vision for the project was heavily compromised in post-production. Despite such well-publicized behind-the-scenes issues though, Suicide Squad would go on to earn almost $750 million at the box office even with a less-than-enthusiastic response from both critics and fans.
Many people didn’t seem too excited by the idea of a Suicide Squad sequel, but interest massively increased when it was announced that Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn would be writing and directing the follow-up, now known as The Suicide Squad. Gunn’s track record in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has shown that he has an excellent handle on how to create an ensemble comic book movie about a team of misfit characters, making him the ideal choice for the material.
In an effort to distance itself from the original, The Suicide Squad is acting as more of a soft reboot of the franchise than a true sequel by bringing back just a handful of characters from the first movie, with only Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney and Viola Davis officially confirmed to be reprising their roles at this point. Although recent speculation surrounding reshoots on Birds of Prey have heavily teased Margot Robbie’s involvement, too.
One of the most talked-about aspects of the first Suicide Squad was Jared Leto’s performance as the Joker, with the actor’s take on the iconic villain proving to be hugely divisive. Leto himself has publicly spoken about his disappointment in finding out that a lot of his scenes were cut from the movie, but has never ruled out the possibility of playing the Clown Prince of Crime once again.
He may soon get his wish, too, as We Got This Covered has managed to get our hands on an official production document from The Suicide Squad that lists the actor among the cast list. Our sources haven’t yet been able to confirm or deny whether or not Leto is definitely onboard for the sequel though, and Warner Bros. wouldn’t comment on the document when we reached out to them, either. For all we know, whoever put this document together could’ve made a mistake, but given that it comes directly from the production team, that seems unlikely.
In any case, if Jared Leto does return to play the Joker in The Suicide Squad, the actor would be much better off restricted to either a cameo or flashback appearance to provide connective tissue to the first movie. Not only did the Academy Award-winner’s performance in the first installment come under heavy criticism, but there’s also the looming shadow of Todd Phillips’ Joker on the horizon, which is already being tipped as a serious awards contender.
Even if the actor doesn’t come back for The Suicide Squad, he’ll still get to scratch that comic book movie itch by playing the title character in Sony’s Morbius, which has recently wrapped shooting and is set for release in July 2020.
