Why Is Will Smith's Deadshot Not In The Suicide Squad?

The Suicide Squad is set to hit theaters and HBO Max next month. If you've been keeping an eye on all the visuals being released, you'll notice that Will Smith's Deadshot is notably missing. Why is that? Did Will have a fallout with Warner Bros or James Gunn? Well, here's what happened.

The movie's producer, Peter Safran, spoke about Will Smith not returning for the new movie in a recent interview. He said that Will Smith was initially meant to reprise his role as Deadshot in the sequel, but due to scheduling conflicts, it didn't happen.

We discussed it. But I think the Will [Smith] of it all was really more of a schedule thing than anything else. We knew we had to start shooting in September because, frankly, we knew probably earlier than other people did that James was going to come back and do Guardians. So it was really important that we started shooting when we started shooting and Will wasn't available, and that kind of made it easier all around. What are you going to do? He's not available. So it's also nice to, frankly, help separate it from the first movie, I think, in a greater fashion.

Safran also mentioned that Will Smith's Deadshot was set to play a leadership role, but that role has now been given to Idris Elba's character Bloodsport.

Rumors first circulated that Idris Elba was going to replace Will Smith as Deadshot, but that clearly hasn't happened. Instead, Elba has come in as a character of his own, leaving a space open for Will Smith to return as Deadshot.

David Ayer was the director of the first Suicide Squad film, but it didn't do very well in terms of ratings. People absolutely hated the film!

This time around, James Gunn is taking over the helm.

Gunn will also be returning to the director's chair for the third film in the Guardians of The Galaxy film franchise. He was first fired by Disney for some old controversial tweets that had resurfaced, but he had since been rehired. He will also be directing Peacemaker for HBO Max, a TV series based on John Cena's character in The Suicide Squad.

The Suicide Squad is scheduled to be released in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6th, 2021.

Check out our preview of The Suicide Squad here.