Now known as, err, The Suicide Squad, James Gunn’s Suicide Squad sequel has reportedly lost one of its biggest names.
Courtesy of Variety, it’s been confirmed that Will Smith won’t be back to reprise his Deadshot role; the Bad Boys star’s schedule seemingly the reason for this departure. It’s uncertain right now whether this means that Deadshot will simply not feature in The Suicide Squad or whether he may possibly even be recast for the sequel.
The original plan was for the Suicide Squad follow-up to be spearheaded by Smith and Margot Robbie, but earlier this year saw it revealed that Robbie’s Harley Quinn won’t be a part of The Suicide Squad. For fans of Harleen, however, you’ll still get to see her in next year’s Birds of Prey picture in addition to there still being rumblings of a solo outing for the Maid of Mischief.
Having been given the boot by Disney, Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn is the person tasked with writing and potentially directing The Suicide Squad. The current plan for the film is for it to serve as both a sequel and a soft reboot for the ragtag rogues. Even once Robbie was confirmed to not be back for The Suicide Squad, it was still expected that the rest of the first movie’s cast would be returning. While that will seemingly still be the case for the majority of the cast, you can now count Will Smith out.
At present, The Suicide Squad is set for an August 6th, 2021 release.