Jared Leto Open to Reprising Joker Role After Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Suicide Squad star Jared Leto says it's "hard to say no" to the Joker, a role he returns to in Zack Snyder's Justice League. Leto's turn as the damaged DC Comics supervillain appeared to be a one-off after the David Ayer-directed Suicide Squad, where Batman (Ben Affleck) apprehends the clown prince of crime's love-stricken accomplice Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). Leto's Joker is last seen springing Harley from prison to end Suicide Squad and does not appear in spin-off Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, where an emancipated Harley breaks up with her "Mr. J" (played by Johnny Goth in a cameo appearance).

"It's hard to say no to that character," Leto told the Variety Awards Circuit podcast about a return to the DC Extended Universe after his pared-down appearance in Suicide Squad. "It's like [Leto's character] Albert Sparma in The Little Things. There are a very few characters that you play that have absolutely no rules, you know, that you could just go to town. It's so much fun, that energy. I had a lot of fun with that character."

"Sparma reminds me a little bit of that character as well, in that he's just a little outside the box," Leto added about his character in the Denzel Washington and Rami Malek-starring crime drama. "He's someone who says everything that he thinks, basically. And he always is surprising. He's very playful. And I found him actually quite funny as well."

Leto reprised the Joker role for additional photography on Zack Snyder's Justice League, joining returning Justice League actors Affleck, Henry Cavill (Superman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg), Joe Manganiello (Deathstroke), and Amber Heard (Mera). The director's cut from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice filmmaker Zack Snyder takes place "slightly elsewhere" outside of the ongoing DCEU, according to Snyder and Warner Bros. executives.

The tattooed Joker will debut an alternate appearance in the Snyder Cut as the Justice League visionary wanted to "honor what had been created with him [in Suicide Squad] because I thought it was really cool."

"I'm not going to tell you what happens in the little scene, but some water has gone under the proverbial bridge between when last we saw Joker and this appearance. He's a road-weary Joker, I guess that's a way of saying it," Snyder recently told Beyond the Trailer. "I will say it was fun having a segment of the band together for this little vignette, if you will. Working with Jared was really amazing, his attention to detail, he really cares a lot about it being awesome. It was fun and everyone did an amazing (job)."

The Little Things releases in theaters and on HBO Max on January 29. Zack Snyder's Justice League premieres on the streaming service in March 2021.