The Suicide Squad has seen a whirlwind of news over the past couple of days. First producer Peter Safran referred to James Gunn’s film as “a total reboot”, then Jai Courtney confirmed his return as Captain Boomerang only for Viola Davis to return as Amanda Waller as well. Now Variety has dropped this bombshell: Idris Elba, who was tapped to take over Will Smith’s role as Deadshot, will no long play the deadly assassin, but a new character in the film.
Variety notes Gunn and the film’s production team have decided to remove Deadshot from the story after several weeks of discussion. Apparently, even at the time of Elba’s casting after a very positive meeting with Gunn, Elba’s role as Deadshot was not fully set in stone as they were still deciding whether or not he would replace Smith or simply be a new character. It is unknown what character Elba will now play.
One of the reasons for the sudden change is so as not to disrespect Will Smith and keep the door open for his return in future films should he choose to do so. Variety notes that it was, after all, because of a scheduling conflict that prevented Smith from reprising his role as Deadshot instead of creative differences.
The Suicide Squad follows a group of supervillains who have been captured by the government and offered time off their sentences in return for performing high-risk and top secret missions. Along with the offer of time off, the villainous members are also compelled to obey by way of explosives planted into their heads. While the team has been a revolving door of new characters pretty frequently throughout the years, Deadshot has always been a central figure of the team.
The Suicide Squad is set for release on August 6th 2021.
