We’ve been hearing talk for a long time now that Margot Robbie may not be reprising her role as Harley Quinn for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, and though her involvement – or lack thereof – remains up in the air at the moment, we can now tell you with absolute certainty that Will Smith will not be returning as Deadshot.
As you no doubt know, Gunn’s follow-up to 2016’s Suicide Squad will act as a soft reboot for the series, which means that the movie will boast a mostly new cast. And sure enough, according to Deadline, Floyd Lawton will likely be among the characters who aren’t coming back for the pic, which is apparently going to avoid direct tie-ins to the events of the first film.
From what we understand, Smith’s split was amicable and scheduling conflicts are cited as the reason for his exit. Though as we said above, it’s looking like the studio wants a fresh slate here and we imagine that heavily factored into their decision to part ways with the A-list star.
All things considered, it appears as if Gunn will have the creative freedom to apply his own vision to the property. Although, that being said, Suicide Squad director David Ayer has noted several times now that his film’s final version was vastly different from its original cut, so there’s nothing to say that Warner Bros. won’t end up tampering with things at some point. For now, though, it sounds like they’re giving Gunn the appropriate breathing room to steer the franchise in whichever direction that he’d like.
Can the fan favorite director relaunch The Suicide Squad though and essentially create the DC equivalent of Guardians of the Galaxy? Who knows, but we’ll find out one way or another when the film arrives on August 6th, 2021.