After a few months of searching, it appears that Warner Bros. may have finally landed on a director for Suicide Squad 2. is reporting that the studio is courting Jaume Collet-Serra to helm the sequel to their 2016 DC superhero hit and our own sources are saying that the filmmaker is close to signing. Granted talks could fall apart, as they did with War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves for a time on the upcoming Batman movie, but chances are good that they have their man.
Should he sign, Collet-Serra will beat out competition for the gig that has included the likes of Mel Gibson, Daniel Espinosa, Guy Ritchie, and Joe Carnahan. David Ayer, who directed the first film, has passed on this sequel in favor of directing the upcoming Harley Quinn-centric spin-off, Gotham City Sirens. That particular picture is likely further off than this one, however, as Ayer is currently in post-production on Bright and in pre-production on Universal’s new remake of Scarface.
For those not familiar with his name, Jaume Collet-Serra’s previous works include horror films such as House of Wax and Orphan, as well as a trio of entertaining Liam Neeson action films (Unknown, Non-Stop, and Run All Night). His latest film was last year’s shark-centric hit The Shallows and he already has another Neeson collaboration in post-production (The Commuter).
His talent and experience in dealing with action and genre cinema makes him an ideal candidate to direct the sequel to a film that included among its ranks a world-class hitman, a witch, a pyrokinetic, a crocodile man, and a warrior wielding a demon sword. The only other project that Collet-Serra appears to have on deck at the moment is Annapurna’s Waco, but that seems to still be in the scripting stage at this time.
Suicide Squad 2 has no production timeline in place at the moment, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment do their best to get it before cameras late this year or early next. WB’s post-Aquaman DC slate seems to be up in the air of late, with no guaranteed project set for 2019 beyond the aforementioned Matt Reeves Batman offering. The only thing that might stand in the way of a 2019 release for Suicide Squad 2 is its cast. Will Smith, Jared Leto, Viola Davis, and Margot Robbie are all very much in-demand these days. Given that all four are likely to be leads again in this follow-up, finding a production timetable that lines up might not be an easy task. More as it comes.
