There’s been rumours for the last few weeks, but it now’s been confirmed that Joel Kinnaman will indeed be playing Rick Flag in the upcoming SUICIDE SQUAD. The role initially went to Tom Hardy, who pulled out, and was then offered to Jake Gyllenhaal, who declined, and now the ROBOCOP star has landed the part.

Speaking on how SUICIDE SQUAD will hopefully avoid some of the issues that ROBOCOP had, Kinnaman told UPROXX, “You want the backstory of the character, but I think this is also a universe that David Ayer is going to create – there’s a lot more. Also, when you’re doing the first movie in a comic book, you always have the leeway of you’re going to move it from a comic book to a film and put it in real life – you’re always going to make a lot of changes and create a new universe. So you’re kind of setting a precedent. When you’re remaking a movie that’s already been made and a character that was made for the film, then it becomes a different thing and it’s more difficult to create something new without offending some people.”

Hmmm, you’d have thought Kinnaman would have been aware of those potential issues before signing on for ROBOCOP.

Anyway, the actor joins a SUICIDE SQUAD that includes Jared Leto as The Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. It’s believed that whilst Waller will indeed oversee the Suicide Squad team, Flag will serve as a government agent overseeing Waller and the team. From certain rumours and speculation about the film’s plot, the character is likely to be involved in some potential swerves throughout the film. That said, the reason that Hardy left the project is because script rewriters saw the character’s role reduced significantly in order to give more screen time to The Joker and Deadshot, so who knows if those earlier rumours on Flag’s role have been changed now.

David Ayer’s villain-centric SUICIDE SQUAD is currently set for an August 5th, 2016 release.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

CLICK TO BUY!

MORE FROM AROUND THE WEB: