Viola Davis is reportedly returning as Amanda Waller for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. While Gunn's DC Extended Universe movie has been described as a "total reboot" of the property by producer Peter Safran, it's becoming increasingly clear that's not really the case. So far, Margot Robbie and Jai Courtney are both set to reprise their respective roles from David Ayer's Suicide Squad (Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang) in Gunn's film. Meanwhile, Will Smith was planning to reprise his role as Deadshot in Gunn's movie, but had to pass due to a scheduling conflict, and has since been replaced by Idris Elba.
The Suicide Squad comic books revolve around a rotating roster of incarcerated super-villains who are recruited by the government to carry out jobs that are deemed too dangerous or illicit for DC's superheroes to execute, with the promise of reduced jail sentences for their efforts (if they survive). As the team title implies, these missions have a tendency to get its members killed, and only a handful end up actually living to fight another day. Of course, their boss Amanda Waller is a constant, and it looks like the DCEU movies will follow suit in that respect.
Related: Why James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is NOT a Reboot
The Wrap is reporting that Waller will reprise her role as Waller from Ayer's Suicide Squad for Gunn's movie, based on intel from a source close to the project. Assuming that's the case, it shouldn't be too long before either Davis or Warner Bros. confirms the news.
As poorly as Ayer's Suicide Squad fared with critics, it was a big box office success (grossing $747 million at the global box office) and featured a motley crew of characters that, for the most part, audiences seemed to like. That was certainly the case with Davis as Waller, who did a great job of capturing the character's ruthless nature in a relatively limited amount of screen-time. Waller, as indicated earlier, is a bit like the Nick Fury to the Suicide Squad's Avengers in the comic books, so it only makes sense for the character to appear in The Suicide Squad in some capacity. And seeing as the movie is shaping up to be more of a soft reboot than anything else (WB Chairman Toby Emmerich even called it Suicide Squad 2 at the studio's CinemaCon presentation this week), there's absolutely no reason to not have Davis come back and tackle the role again.
Of course, those who bit the dust in Ayer's movie (RIP Slipknot and El Diablo) won't be coming back for The Suicide Squad, so there will have to be some fresh additions to the lineup in Gunn's film. It's been reported that the new recruits will include obscure characters like Polka-Dot Man and Peacemaker, as well as super-villains like The Flash's King Shark. But again, knowing Waller, there's a very good chance that she'll end up sending one or more of these newcomers to the grave with whatever mission she's got planned next for The Suicide Squad.
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Source: The Wrap
