This was certainly a surprise, especially just after news that Tim Miller has met with ten actresses for the role of Domino, but it seems Miller is no longer set to direct Deadpool 2. According to Deadline, Miller and Ryan Reynolds had creative differences over the sequel, yet the split was an amicable one with no hard feelings. Miller, it seems, has already moved into Influx for 20th Century Fox, an adaptation of David Suarez’s novel. The sequel will apparently involve Cable and, if the rumours are true, Domino, leading into an X-Force film.
Deadpool proved to be a surprise hit, especially for a blockbuster film being released far outside the summer movie season in February, and went on to earn $782.6 million in theatres, becoming the seventh highest grossing film of 2016 and the highest grossing film in the X-Men franchise. This loss might come as a blow to fans after waiting nearly a decade for Deadpool to be brought to screen in a solo film, but its interesting to note that Miller was never officially announced as the sequel’s director, though he was working on the story and script with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
Fox is working to get several X-Men properties underway; Simon Kinberg has been trying to get an X-Force film off the ground and it was announced in August that they’ve hired new screenwriters for a New Mutants film while Gambit has been in a constant state of flux, with director Doug Liman leaving the project. With Logan set to be the last time Hugh Jackman will star as Wolverine and no new X-Men film announced it seemed Deadpool would have become Fox’s flagship mutant property, but we’ll have to see what Miller’s departure does to those plans.
Originally published October 22, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
