Expected to begin filming at some point in 2018, the sequel to Suicide Squad won’t bring back original director David Ayer for the next adventure with a team of DC Comics supervillains, but several high-profile and lesser-known filmmakers have been considered for the project, according to Deadline. Among the other filmmakers reportedly considered for the job was actor-turned-director and two-time Academy Award winner Mel Gibson, who’s fresh off a nomination for directing last year’s Hacksaw Ridge.
While nothing is official at this point regarding the sequel, the second Suicide Squad will likely bring back Will Smith and Margot Robbie as the assassin Deadshot and the deranged criminal Harley Quinn, respectively. The Avengers and X-Men: The Last Stand writer Zak Penn is working on the script for the film.
Collet-Serra first attracted Hollywood’s attention with his terrifying 2009 thriller Orphan, and later with 2014’s airplane action film Non-Stop, which starred Liam Neeson. Most recently, he directed last year’s critically praised, open-water shark thriller The Shallows that earned almost $120 million from a project made for less than $20 million.
Collet-Serra’s next film is The Commuter, another action project featuring Neeson, which is scheduled to hit theaters January 12, 2018.
Last year’s Suicide Squad was the third film in Warner Bros. Pictures’ superhero cinematic universe based on DC Comics characters, and featured a team of supervillains forced by a mysterious government agency to undertake a dangerous mission. Although the film earned the most negative reviews of the studio’s franchise so far, it still raked in more than $325.1 million in U.S. theaters and $745.6 million worldwide, putting it on par commercially with that year’s Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice (which was similarly panned, but likely covered its high production costs).
Along with Smith and Robbie, the first film’s cast also included Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Adam Beach as Slipknot, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, and Jay Hernandez as El Diablo. Jared Leto also made his debut as The Joker, while Viola Davis portrayed government agent Amanda Waller, Karen Fukuhara played the supernatural swordswoman Katana, and Joel Kinnaman played team leader Rick Flagg.
It’s unknown how many members of the original film’s cast are likely to return for the sequel.
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