The Suicide Squad is an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC Comics antihero team Suicide Squad. Set for distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is intended to be a soft reboot and standalone sequel to Suicide Squad (2016) and the tenth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film, written and directed by James Gunn, stars an ensemble cast led by Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Peter Capaldi, and Viola Davis.
Plans for a sequel to Suicide Squad began before that film’s release and were confirmed in March 2016. Though director David Ayer was initially set to return, he dropped out in December 2016 in favor of Gotham City Sirens. Warner Bros. considered multiple directors, including Mel Gibson and Daniel Espinosa, before hiring Gavin O’Connor in September 2017. However, O’Connor left the project a year later due to creative differences. In October 2018, James Gunn, who at the time had been fired by The Walt Disney Company from directing the Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, was hired to write the film, and signed on to direct in January 2019. Gunn looked to the 1980s Suicide Squad comics for inspiration and chose to focus on new characters rather than continue the 2016 film’s narrative. Principal photography began in Atlanta, Georgia in September 2019, and concluded in Panama in February 2020.
The Suicide Squad is scheduled to be released in the United States on August 6, 2021. A spin-off television series centered on Peacemaker is in development for HBO Max.
