The Suicide Squad Star Nathan Fillion Explains Why He Joined the World of DC

Actor Nathan Fillion has had a part in a lot of major franchises having previously been involved in Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and as Green Lantern in the animated DC movies. With his appearance in the upcoming The Suicide Squad he’ll have another one under his belt as he joins the World of DC in a live-action role from the pages of DC Comics. All that franchise experience under his belt, Fillion has revealed in a new interview what made him sign on for the film and naturally the answer is easy, and just two words: “James Gunn.”

“James Gunn (is) one of the people in my life that when he calls I just pick up the phone and say ‘yes to whatever you’re about to say, it’s yes, the answer is yes,’” Fillion told ET Canada. “James Gunn is an amazing storyteller, that guy understands story and he loves to tell story. So when he wants to do something you know it’s gonna be fun, you know it’s gonna be satisfying… So here he is with Suicide Squad 2, he asks me to come down. What can I say about it? It’s so secret, I get stressed when people talk about it. Here’s what I can tell you though, huge scope. I’ve never done anything so big.”

Fillion previously elaborated on his stress with fans and reports asking him about his character, saying that he encourages fans to talk about it when their guesses are clearly off the mark. It’s still unclear who Fillion is playing, though one set photo pointed toward the character Blackguard, but that has yet to be confirmed as of this writing. As big of a fan as Gunn is of the source material it wouldn’t be surprising to see him bring in some very obscure villains for the movie. Gunn previously said that he had “reread every single Suicide Squad comic” before writing the film.

Though the new film will bring back some characters and actors from the 2016 movie the movie isn’t a sequel to that film even though Fillion himself called it “Suicide Squad 2.”

“First of all, we don’t call it Suicide Squad 2 ’cause it’s a total reboot,” producer Peter Safran previously told JoBlo when asked about the connection between Gunn’s film and its David Ayer-directed predecessor. “So it’s The Suicide Squad and I think people should be extremely excited about it. It’s everything you would hope from a James Gunn script and I think that says a lot and that promises a lot and I know that we will deliver a lot.”

The Suicide Squad is scheduled to be released on August 6, 2021 with filming still ongoing in Panama.