The Suicide Squad Director Shares New Look at the Cast

The Suicide Squad has assembled. Director James Gunn posted a photo to Instagram of himself with several members of the new film’s cast. “Hanging out with part of #TheSuicideSquad team this weekend,” Gunn writes. “What a great group of people!” In the photo below, you can see the assembled cast, including (from left to right) Flula Borg, Daniela Melchior, David Dastmalchian, Gunn, Jennifer Holland, Nathan Fillion, Sean Gunn, and Mayling Ng. This is only a part of the film’s star-studded cast, which also includes Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag) and Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang) reprising their roles from 2016’s Suicide Squad, as well as newcomers Idris Elba, Michael Rooker, Peter Capaldi, Storm Reid, Pete Davidson, Taika Waititi and John Cena.

Producer Peter Safran told ComicBook.com that Gunn’s film is “not a sequel” to Ayer’s Suicide Squad, despite having some cast members and characters in common. The title of The Suicide Squad reflects that difference. “It’s called The Suicide Squad,” Safran said. “It’s not Suicide Squad 2. It is not a sequel. I will leave that alone but, yes, it’s called The Suicide Squad.”

Sequel or no, original Suicide Squad director David Ayer thinks DC Films and its fans are lucky to have Gunn helming the follow-up film. “DC is blessed to have @JamesGunn I’m getting my popcorn ready,” Ayer wrote on social media. Following The Suicide Squad‘s cast reveal, Ayer shared his excitement for the film, tweeting, “On the real I cannot wait to see this movie.”

Warner Bros. hired Gunn to write and direct the new film while he was at-the-time fired from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Though Gunn is now back on board the Marvel film, he’ll make The Suicide Squad first.

Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn, told ComicBook.com that he’s read his brother’s script for the film and was impressed. “I know that he’s very excited about shooting and now that I have read the script for it, I will say nothing other than that it’s really good,” Gunn said. “And I know that he’s pretty jazzed about it, so I’m definitely excited to hear what happens next. But they start shooting soon.”

Are you excited about The Suicide Squad? What do you think of the cast? Let us know in the comments.

The Suicide Squad is scheduled to open in theaters on August 6, 2021. Other upcoming DC Extended Universe movies include Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, and The Batman on June 25, 2021.