Last fall, we learned that former Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn was jumping ship from Marvel to DC to helm a sequel to Suicide Squad for the Distinguished Competition. Recently, it was confirmed that the movie, titled The Suicide Squad, will operate as more of a reboot of the anti-superhero franchise than a follow-up to the 2016 flick and will release in spring 2020.
With the news that it’ll likely feature a mostly all-new cast, speculation’s running rampant in regards to which characters could appear as the latest recruits of Task Force X and who could play them. And though there’s been no news on that front just yet, someone who definitely seems interested in joining the project is ex-Walking Dead star Tom Payne. The British actor shared The Hollywood Reporter’s article speculating on who Gunn might cast this week on his Twitter and added a thinking emoji, which sent fans wild.
Of course, Payne just exited the long-running zombie drama in the midseason finale which aired before the show’s winter break. He’d played Paul “Jesus” Rovia on the series for the past four seasons but his character was shockingly killed off by a Whisperer in the episode’s closing moments. Though fans were surprised by his death, the star’s come clean to say that he’s not mourning being written out as he’s been frustrated at Jesus’ lack of development for years now.
Clearly, he’s in the mood for a new acting challenge, then, and joining the DC universe as one of the super-criminals of the Suicide Squad would definitely fit that bill. It’s difficult to read into what Payne means with his enigmatic emoji, though. It’s possible he’s already in talks to star in the movie, but we haven’t heard that casting’s underway yet, so presumably he’s just expressing his interest.
In fact, not even Margot Robbie and Will Smith have been confirmed to return as Harley Quinn and Deadshot, so it’s literally an open playing field at the moment. But as soon as we hear more about The Suicide Squad, we’ll be sure to let you know.
