DC confirms that James Gunn is not only writing the script for Suicide Squad 2 but is also working on an entirely new version of the story. It's been over two years since David Ayer's first Suicide Squad movie hit theaters, and yet Warner Bros. Pictures appears to be no closer to putting the sequel into production. After spending some time in development, Suicide Squad 2 appeared to be moving forward when The Accountant's Gavin O'Connor was brought on to write and direct the sequel late last year.

O'Connor, along with screenwriters Todd Stashwick and David Bar Katz, have been hard at work on developing the story and screenplay for Suicide Squad 2, which was only recently turned into WB. Unfortunately, for them, the studio decided to move forward with Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey instead, which apparently has an identical story to their version of Suicide Squad 2. And so, with O'Connor having exited the sequel, WB is going back to square one with Gunn now writing the script and potentially eyeing the director's chair.

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In addition to confirming that James Gunn is writing Suicide Squad 2, today's episode of DC Daily also revealed that the filmmaker is bringing "a completely fresh take to the franchise." Although it's been reported that Gunn is working on a new version of the story, the fact that DC mentions this is a fresh take on the series itself is particularly interesting.

Since DC refers to Gunn's movie as Suicide Squad 2, it's clear that he's still developing the sequel to Ayer's first movie, so "fresh take" could be referring to two things here: one, that Gunn is doing a full rewrite of the movie's story and script, and - two - that he's potentially taking the characters in an entirely different direction than how they were depicted in the original film, which may not be a bad thing if WB wants to continue to distance themselves from the earlier installments in the DCEU.

At the moment, Gunn appears to only be writing the script for Suicide Squad 2, though it's been reported that he's also being eyed to possibly direct. In most cases, filmmakers like Gunn who've helmed blockbuster movies before would be inclined to direct movies they've written before, but in his case, he has some experience scripting films for other directors. So it's entirely possible that he may not want to take on the reins as director this time around, especially given the fact that he's coming off of being fired by Disney from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

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Source: DC Daily

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