‘Suicide Squad 2’ Confirmed, Will Smith Set to Return

The expression ‘burying the lede’ refers to the practice of hiding key information deep in the body of an article while front-loading less pressing details. Variety did just that in a new report on an upcoming film called Bright (more on that in a moment), but allow us to go right ahead and exhume the lede they buried: the schedule for Bright has been contoured to free up star Will Smith and director David Ayer in time for a 2017 shoot Suicide Squad 2.

So, yes Suicide Squad 2 is happening. Unfortunately we don’t know much yet at this point, but if Will Smith is back, you can bet Margot Robbie will return as well.

Bright, though: Ayer has taken on what sounds like a combination fantasy adventure / cop drama (?) as his next major project. Working from a script from Max Landis, the less-than-masterful pen behind last year’s thoroughly meh American Ultra and straight-up bad Victor Frankenstein, Ayer will weave a tale described by Variety both as containing fairies and orcs, but also somehow being in the vein of Ayer’s Jake Gyllenhaal/Michael Peña police procedural End of Watch.

Maybe in the fantastical world of Southcentralia, two experienced fairy enforcers are the only thing standing between the roving gangs of orcs and total lawless pandemonium? Will Smith and Joel Edgerton have agreed to head up the cast as the (ostensibly magic) partners in law enforcement at the center of the upcoming film, which still has yet to be purchased by a major studio. Once it does, we’ll get to the good stuff — release dates, full cast, plot synopsis, y’all know the drill. Until then, we can all snigger childishly at the weird thought of a gritty cop drama about fairies and orcs. (“When you live by the magic wand, you die by the magic wand.”)

Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 5.