James Gunn to Write and Possibly Direct a ‘Suicide Squad’ Project
When one door shuts, another one opens. Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn has taken a job for DC Films after the Disney’s controversial decision to fire him from Marvel over some old, off-color tweets. Fittingly, he is set to write a new Suicide Squad project with the possibility of directing it open.
Per Deadline, Warner Bros. are hiring Gunn to offer a new take on the Suicide Squad after he was ousted from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; Gunn is set to write the project and potentially direct it as well. Part of the reason why DC’s Suicide Squad got off the ground was said to be due to the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, so it’s somewhat ironic that Gunn will be working to help DC make the next installment of the series.
Director Gavin O’Connor has been developing a sequel to the original movie for quite some time, co-writing the script with Todd Stashwick and David Bar Katz. As of right now, it’s not clear if his project has been cancelled or if it still remains in development, or if Gunn’s take on the franchise will be a revision of this version. Current buzz is suggesting that Gunn’s version could be its own thing, and that O’Connor has exited the sequel due to similarities between his story and Birds of Prey:
Being told that Gunn's SUICIDE SQUAD will not be a sequel, he will have a whole new take on it. But whether that means a total recasting or not is unclear.
— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) October 9, 2018
On the Gavin O'Connor front in relation to SS2, hearing the story he had for the sequel ended up almost being identical to the BIRDS OF PREY story and when that film was given the go ahead to go before SQUAD 2, O'Connor grew frustrated and fell off project to do HAS BEEN instead
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) October 9, 2018
In any case, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn certainly isn’t going anywhere, as she’s lined up to appear in Birds of Prey and potentially a slew of other DC projects, but she may not be needed for Gunn’s movie. Perhaps the upcoming The Flash standalone could end up doing something to soft-reboot the DC Films continuity in order to give writers and directors a clean slate, which would give Gunn free reign over these characters. Hopefully, Warner Bros. should issue an official statement about the project soon.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than four years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
