Suicide Squad 2 Finally Hires Gavin O'Connor To Write & Direct
So much for Mel Gibson...
However you feel about Mel Gibson, it would have been incredible to see what he would have done with Suicide Squad 2, had he been handed the reigns of the upcoming sequel. And for a while there, it really looked like he might be a real contender.
Unfortunately for anyone shipping that dynamic, Warner Bros have gone elsewhere, hiring The Accountant's Gavin O'Connor in a far more unexpected move (since he's been on very few predicted short-lists thrown around). The Warrior director has been hired to write and direct.
Variety is reporting that there's also a hint that O'Connor could be in line to direct the sequel - Suicide Squad 3 - as well. The same report also suggests that Warner Bros. wants the film to begin production by the end of 2017, which fits those fast-track reports. Whether that's a smart idea when the writer is literally being hired in September remains to be seen, but they must have an idea that it's going to be in a position to fly soon.
Hopefully, O'Connor's link to Ben Affleck - who he worked with on The Accountant - could mean that we'll get to see the latter cameo in the sequel, as he did uncredited in Suicide Squad. Because - no matter how brief - having Batman in there gives the film legitimacy as a spin-off, and who doesn't want to see more of Affleck under the cowl?
Suicide Squad 2 will be the next DCEU movie to go into production, with the Harley and Joker movie and David Ayer’s Gotham City Sirens still being worked on, but with less priority than it was (it was wrongly thought those two films were one and the same). And then there's the Joker Origin movie, The Batman, Nightwing and all manner of delights to come.