Warner Brothers has signaled that it is moving forward on its planned sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad in two ways – It has announced a release date for the film and is currently in talks with Guardians Of The Galaxy writer/director James Gunn to direct the feature.
Being described by the studio as more of a relaunch of the franchise rather than a direct sequel to the previous film, The Suicide Squad, as it is now being called, will arrive in theaters on August 6, 2021.
There is no word as to exatly what is meant by a “relaunch” and whether it will just ignore, rewrite or acknowledge but move on from the events of the previous film which featured a number of DC COmics villains being forced into a covert black ops mission by a shadowy government agency called Task Force X.
The sequel was just one of several projects Warner Brothers put into development around the same that were looking to capitalize on the popularity of Margot Robbie’s turn as the villainous Harley Quinn. Another of those projects, Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn), is currently getting in front of cameras with Robbie, so if the intention is to have her return for The Suicide Squad, it looks as if Robbie will be spending some more time as Harley for the foreseeable future.
Warners moved David Ayers, the writer/director of the first Suicide Squad film over to developing Gotham City Sirens, another DC Comics series that spotlights some of their female characters. It then flirted with the likes of Mel Gibson, Daniel Espinoza, Jaume Collet-Serra and Gavin O’Connor to helm the follow-up. Meanwhile it brought in first Adam Cozad and then David Bar Katz and Todd Stashwick to take stabs at the Suicide Squad 2 screenplay before bringing Gunn to take a pass. At that time, it was assumed that Gunn would move on to direct the film as well.
