Big tentpole franchise movies are having a hard time obtaining and keeping directors recently, and while Star Wars has been making the big news lately—with its parting ways with Colin Trevorrow this week and scrambling to fix the Han Solo movie earlier this summer—the granddaddy of this problem seems to be Warner Bros’ DC Extended Universe, which has lost a number of directors already for its announced features. We can scratch off one of those question marks now, though, as Deadline is reporting that Suicide Squad 2 will be directed by Gavin O’Connor.
O’Connor is the acclaimed director of sports dramas like Miracle and Warrior, and he scored a sleeper hit last year with The Accountant (a movie which we more or less enjoyed), also for Warner Bros, and starring the DCEU’s own personal Batman, Ben Affleck. The pair are currently working on a sequel to that movie. (O’Connor also directed the pilot of The Americans.)
His style is not what we might immediately consider zany enough for a Suicide Squad, or even a comic book movie of any kind, but David Ayer who directed the first Suicide Squad wasn’t a shoo-in either, so…
While not a favorite of critics—or with fans for that matter—Suicide Squad nevertheless made a lot of money in 2016, and the team consisting of colorful bad guys forced to do good under threat of death is a fun dynamic and one surely still ripe for the picking. Warner Bros seems to be looking for directors they know they can work with to fill some of these hard-to-fill slots, and O’Connor’s work for them and elsewhere has been exemplary.
As long as he uses a color palate more robust than seasick green and dirt mixed with slightly-rotten plum, I think we’ll be in very good shape. What do you think about Gavin O’Connor directing Suicide Squad 2? Tell us in the comments below!
Images: Warner Bros
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and an avowed DC Comics fanboy. Follow him on Twitter!
