Beloved actor Nathan Fillion has been cast in an unknown role in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. This news comes as little surprise to fans of both Fillion and Gunn, as the actor and filmmaker are known to be close friends, and Fillion has made a habit of appearing in cameo roles in Gunn's films ever since starring in Gunn's directorial debut, the 2006 horror film Slither.

Fillion has danced on the line between mainstream success and cult cinema stardom for most of his career. He can currently be seen in the lead role of ABC's police drama The Rookie, and previously spent eight seasons playing the lead role of novelist Richard Castle on Castle. Yet Fillion's heart seems to lie among the science-fiction and superhero roles which have made him a popular figure on the convention circuit, and he's still fondly remembered by many for his portrayal of Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the series Firefly and the follow-up film Serenity.

Related: Nathan Fillion's 10 Most Famous Roles

Deadline reports that Fillion's role in The Suicide Squad is being kept under wraps. This suggests that his part will be more than a mere cameo, and may indeed be pivotal to the story, which Gunn is also keeping under lock and key. The only certainty is that Fillion is on Cloud 9 regarding the casting, being a well-known comic book fan who has been hoping to be cast in a MCU or DCEU film for some time.

Fillion almost made it into Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in a series of mock movie posters, which would have cast him in the role of actor-turned-superhero Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man. He lent his voice to an alien prisoner in the first Guardians of the Galaxy, but has yet to play a superhero in a blockbuster film. Fillion has, however, become the official voice of Green Lantern Hal Jordan in the DC Animated Movie Universe, and played a number of original superhero characters in other projects. Chief among these were his performances as Captain Hammer in Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and a cameo as The Holy Avenger (a parody of the character Bibleman) in James Gunn's 2010 superhero-themed dark comedy Super. He also poked fun at his fanboy nature in an episode of the web series The Daly Show, where he and Superman voice-actor Tim Daly played versions of themselves who'd begun to think they were truly the superheroes they voiced.

Given this background, there's little doubt that Fillion is up to the task of playing a comedic superhero or supervillain in The Suicide Squad, though the question of who he's playing remains. One amusing possibility is that he could be playing the time-traveling hero Booster Gold, whom Fillion previously expressed interest in playing. With a script for a Booster Gold solo-film reportedly complete and awaiting the green light from Warner Bros., could this be a sneaky way of introducing the character into the DCEU and testing the waters for Fillion to headline his own movie while lending his star-power to his friend James Gunn? Time will tell, yet Fillion is sure to excel no matter what the role is revealed to be.

More: Nathan Fillion's Thoughts on Playing Booster Gold

Source: Deadline

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Matt Morrison (1736 Articles Published)

Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word "blogging" was coined. He got his start writing for the legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing, before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on to write for over a dozen websites, including 411 Mania, Comics Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog – My Geeky Geeky Ways – which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series making up The Arrowverse as well as his comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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