Movies & TV / News

Viola Davis Returning For The Suicide Squad, Idris Elba Playing Non-Deadshot Role

April 6, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Suicide Squad Viola Davis Amanda Waller Image Credit: Warner Bros.

A couple of updates for The Suicide Squad have been revealed, including the return of Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. The Wrap reports that Davis will be reprising her role from the first film as the ruthless woman who puts Task Force X together.

In addition, Variety reports that Idris Elba is definitely set for the film, but is no longer playing Deadshot. The site reports that the original plan was to have Elba take on the role after Will Smith bowed out due to scheduling issues, but that writer/director James Gunn and the rest of the team decided to take Deadshot out of the film out of respect to Smith, and give him the chance to possibly come back in a future film.

The two join Margot Robbie and Jai Courtney in the new film, which will be a soft reboot of the series with mostly-new Task Force X members. It is set to release on August 6th, 2021.