Will Smith Reveals Why He Didn't Reprise The Role Of Deadshot In THE SUICIDE SQUAD

Will Smith Reveals Why He Didn't Reprise The Role Of Deadshot In THE SUICIDE SQUAD

James Gunn's The Suicide Squad brought back several characters from David Ayer's original, but Will Smith's Deadshot was not be among them. In a new interview, the actor finally reveals why...

By MarkCassidy - Sep 29, 2021 03:09 PM EST
Filed Under: The Suicide Squad

When the news that Idris Elba was in talks to "replace" Will Smith as Deadshot in James Gunn's Suicide Squad follow-up broke in 2019, several trade reports pointed out that there was a chance he'd been cast as a different character entirely, and it later came to light that the Thor: Ragnarok actor would actually be playing Bloodsport.

This led to speculation that Gunn's original story idea did include Floyd Lawton, but when Smith declined to reprise the role, the filmmaker went with Robert Dubois instead. This may have been true, but it sounds like it was more a case of Smith being unable to return, as opposed to unwilling.

While answering Twitter questions for a video interview with GQ, the Bad Boys For Life star replied to a fan who wondered why he wasn't involved with Gunn's film. "Yeah, I was working and they were ready to shoot. It was a timing issue," confirmed Smith, before suggesting that he would be interested in stepping into the role again down the line.

Of course, The Suicide Squad's underperformance at the box office means Warner Bros. may decide to halt the franchise in its tracks, but should Gunn get the opportunity to make a sequel, it would be pretty cool to see Smith and Elba face-off as their respective sharp-shooting mercenaries. What do you guys think? Would you like to see Smith's Deadshot back in the mix? Drop us a comment down below.

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GhostDog
GhostDog - 9/29/2021, 3:58 PM
Don’t worry, we still kind of had you anyway
Mrcool210
Mrcool210 - 9/29/2021, 3:58 PM
I like Elba in the role but it was insanely obvious he was a quick rewrite because it was supposed to be Deadshot, and had it been Deadshot it would have been an interesting place to take his character, well if they would have delved into the daughter thing a little more. Considering Deadshots relationship with his daughter in the first movie. Probably would have helped me connect with everything in the movie a little more tbh considering I personally found a lot of the stuff with bloodsport pretty dull.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 9/29/2021, 4:01 PM
@Mrcool210 - all they did to really highlight a difference between them is that Bloodsport is a shitty father while DS isn’t
Unites
Unites - 9/29/2021, 4:17 PM
@Mrcool210 - Yup. Also, if Smith had returned, it would have been weird if they hadn't branded TSS a sequel. Being so vague about that didn't help the BO performance either, and SS was still a succesful movie, financially at least.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 9/29/2021, 4:19 PM
@TheDoctor1225 - can’t wait for TSS 3, which will make exactly $7, thanks to mwa

WALA! Your new Deadsport, we missyour?
“I castrated Shazam and my daughter’s on Maury”
Dah!
dracula
dracula - 9/29/2021, 4:01 PM
elba's Milton was better than smith's deadshot anyway
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 9/29/2021, 4:03 PM
Because he's a punk ass busta
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 9/29/2021, 4:03 PM
Who does he think he is, the Fresh Prince of Belarus?
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 9/29/2021, 4:04 PM
@TheWalkingCuban - wow I guess that’s exactly who he thinks he is
Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 9/29/2021, 5:21 PM
@TheWalkingCuban -
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 9/29/2021, 6:36 PM
@Reeds2Much -
Frshcoupe
Frshcoupe - 9/29/2021, 4:16 PM
That’s BS. That’s the equivalent to “the dog ate my homework”.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 9/29/2021, 4:31 PM
@Frshcoupe - yup
suitekid
suitekid - 9/29/2021, 4:33 PM
@Frshcoupe - They said from the jump that Will had other commitments and that’s why Idris was Bloodsport and not Deadshot.
Havenless
Havenless - 9/29/2021, 6:51 PM
@Frshcoupe - yeah, why would something like not being physically present on set stop him from reprising the role
LSHF
LSHF - 9/29/2021, 8:59 PM
@suitekid - Yep. But I guess if someone else says it later, then it's considered more link-bait.
LSHF
LSHF - 9/29/2021, 9:01 PM
@Havenless - Because the role was for a person who was actually "visible" to everyone, so, he had to be physically so he could be seen.

As opposed to "if" had had played an invisible man, then he might not have been required to be physically present on set.
FishyZombie
FishyZombie - 9/29/2021, 4:27 PM
the original suicide squad is a weird movie for me. I think its one if the worst cbm of all time, and yet i think it had all the right ingredients to be a great Suicide Squad movie. I even thought the characters and casting were great. Too bad everything else was just crap. The awesome sequel highlighted that even more.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 9/29/2021, 4:41 PM
@FishyZombie - i try to be a positive chap. It was actually shocking to me how bad it was but my cousin knew, soon as he saw Joker’s look. Positive chap my lips
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 9/29/2021, 4:50 PM
*sigh* Negative Nancy time. Wheel of morality, turn turn turn, tell us the lesson that we should learn. The suicide squad would have made even less with Will Smith, because he costs more.

MUTO123
MUTO123 - 9/29/2021, 4:53 PM
Makes sense. Would like to see him come back, but I did like Elba's character better.
MUTO123
MUTO123 - 9/29/2021, 4:53 PM
Off-topic: a buddy of mine shared this and it killed me.

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