Mel Gibson No Longer Working on ‘Suicide Squad’ Sequel

Mel Gibson has left the Suicide Squad sequel, which he was formerly signed on to direct. He would have succeeded David Ayer, who wrote and directed the original Suicide Squad film, but now it looks like someone is going to have to succeed Gibson as well. Two current possibilities for the film’s director include Guy Ritchie (a long-shot, as he is involved with other work like Disney’s Aladdin) and Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows), who is currently the favored choice. It seems like this change in director is also resultant  of changes and rewrites in the script by Zak Penn. This may actually be a good omen as opposed to a bad one, as he made the well-received story for the original Avengers film.

While the original Suicide Squad certainly suffered from choppy editing (which cannot entirely be blamed on the director), that was not its only obstacle to critical success: its poor dialogue and often confusing plot and pacing led many to dismiss any possible merits of the film. Nonetheless, the film still boasted impressive performances from actors clearly trying to elevate the material they were given, with great performances given by Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) and Jay Hernandez (Diablo). It also contained fan favorites like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Deadshot (Will Smith). Hopefully, a change in writer and director will allow the sequel to outshine the original.