Ever since Disney faceplanted on the wholeJames Gunndebacle and let him go fromGuardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, fans have been wondering where Gunn would land. Other studios were clamoring to work with him and were reportedly offering him high-profile properties. Now it looks like Warner Bros. has come out ahead withThe Wrapreporting that Gunn is in talks to writeSuicide Squad 2and possibly direct the superhero sequel.
You may recall thatSuicide Squad 2has had a pretty turbulent road thus far. The original movie was a modest hit, scoring$746 million worldwideoff a $175 million budget. However, directorDavid Ayerwasn’t brought back for the sequel and the studio started looking elsewhere. They landedThe AccountantdirectorGavin O’Connorto write and direct back inSeptember 2017. Thenthis past June, WB brought onDavid Bar KatzandTodd Stashwickto work alongside O’Connor on the script. But it also looked like O’Connorwas moving onto reteam withBen Affleckon the sports dramaThe Has-Been.
Now with Gunn in the mix, it looks like O’Connor is off the project entirely. There’s no word yet on who from the original cast would return forSuicide Squad 2, but bringing in Gunn is an incredibly smart move by Warner Bros. He has shown that he can write compelling stories featuring deeply damaged characters and still work within the confines of a PG-13 superhero movie. In a weird way, he’s kind of the ideal choice for this project assuming that Warner Bros. doesn’t take it away and try to recut it based on positive reaction to a trailer (which is what happened with the firstSuicide Squad).
Io9adds that Gunn will have “a completely new take on the property,” so it’s possible we could be looking at a new cast or a soft reboot of sorts that better situatesSuicide Squadinside WB’s new vision for the DCEU (less connectivity, stronger individual stories). Either way, I’m curious to see if they’ll get Gunn to direct and if this new take onSuicide Squadwill come to fruition.
