Idris Elba on Rumors He Was Replacing Will Smith as Deadshot in The Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad was finally released this weekend and sees the return of some fan-favorite characters from the 2016 Suicide Squad. Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), and Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang) all returned to the DECU alongside a huge line-up of franchise newcomers. One such newcomer is Idris Elba, who also plays Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When Elba’s casting was first announced, many speculated that he would be taking over as Deadshot, who was played by Will Smith in the previous Suicide Squad. It turns out, Elba is playing Bloodsport, which the actor is pretty pleased about.

“Those rumors would be natural because Will said he wasn’t joining the second movie, so it was quite natural for audiences or fans to think that I would be taking over the Deadshot character because the Deadshot character lived in the other movie,” Elba told Entertainment Tonight. “But I’m really satisfied that James [Gunn] didn’t want to do that, I didn’t want to do that. Deadshot is a great character and Will slays it, so I was really keen the audience and fans kept that rumor going [laughs].”

“We discussed it,” producer Peter Safran previously admitted of Smith’s potential return in The Suicide Squad. “But I think the Will [Smith] of it all was really more of a schedule thing than anything else. We knew we had to start shooting in September because, frankly, we knew probably earlier than other people did that James was going to come back and do Guardians. So it was really important that we started shooting when we started shooting and Will wasn’t available, and that kind of made it easier all around. What are you going to do? He’s not available. So it’s also nice to, frankly, help separate it from the first movie, I think, in a greater fashion.”

In addition to the returning stars and Elba, The Suicide Squad also features David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Steve Agee as John Economos and King Shark (on-set reference), Sylvester Stallone as the voice of King Shark, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, John Cena as Peacemaker, Michael Rooker as Savant, Flula Borg as Javelin, Peter Capaldi as Thinker, Nathan Fillion as TDK, Mayling Ng as Mongal, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Joaquin Cosio as General Mateo Suarez, Juan Diego Botto as Luna, Storm Reid as Tyla, Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, and Taika Waititi.

The Suicide Squad is now playing in theatres and is available to watch on HBO Max.