James Gunn Reveals How His Suicide Squad Connects to the Original

The Suicide Squad is finally hitting theatres and HBO Max in August, and director James Gunn has made it clear that you don’t need to see the 2016 Suicide Squad in order to follow the new movie. However, the new film does feature some of the first movie’s cast, including Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg. In fact, during a recent interview with Total Film, Gunn praised the first film’s casting choices.

Gunn revealed, “There’s nothing really in there that contradicts David’s [Ayer] movie.” He added, “I think the original film did some amazing casting on those characters, in particular the ones I used… I changed what I wanted to and kind of didn’t fix what wasn’t broken.”

It seems the returning cast members are especially excited about Gunn’s take on their characters.

“I mean, I can’t wait to see it,” Kinnaman recently told CBR. “When I read the script, like, every page, every page of the script made me laugh. It’s just the silliest, most violent, and at times, it’s really moving. Just an absolutely ridiculous story. It’s… yeah, you know, honestly, I think people are gonna love it. I really do. I think it’s gonna be a very, very appreciated film.”

“I can tell you that [The Suicide Squad is] going to be incredible,” Robbie previously shared. “And again, it’s just interesting to see what a different filmmaker makes of Gotham and these characters and Harley, really. I’m fascinated by what James Gunn finds interesting in her compared to what [Birds of Prey director] Cathy [Yan] finds interesting, compared to what [Suicide Squad director] David [Ayer] found interesting about her. [James is] such a comic book lover, so it’s going to be rooted in the source material, which is always important to me.”

In addition to the returning cast members, The Suicide Squad‘s cast includes Idris Elba as Bloodsport, 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 in an unknown role.

The Suicide Squad is scheduled to hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6th.