'The Suicide Squad': James Gunn Confirms You Don't Have To See First 'Suicide Squad' Before You Watch His Sequel

While James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is officially a sequel to 2016's Suicide Squad, and even brings several of the previous film's cast members back, there's been plenty of speculation that Gunn's take would be a kind of reboot. The extent to which that's true remains to be seen, but a new comment from Gunn certainly seems to confirm that this entry stands on its own. When asked if viewers need to have seen Suicide Squad to understand The Suicide Squad, Gunn replied with a resounding "no."

Here in the entertainment news biz, we get our stories where we can find them. Which means sometimes we look at the Twitter accounts of actors and filmmakers and look for news. I don't always like this approach – there's something cheap about it that rubs me the wrong way – but news is news, and I think we can all agree this Twitter comment from Mr. James Gunn counts. When asked on Twitter Dot Com if it's a requirement to first watch 2016's Suicide Squad before witnessing Gunn's The Suicide Squad, the filmmaker replied: "No, you will be just fine."

And there you have it! Pretty cut and dry! Gunn is obviously not saying his upcoming movie is a complete reboot or anything like that, but he's definitively stating that the movie can stand on its own. Do you have zero knowledge of the previous movie? You'll be fine. Do you have no interest in revisiting the previous movie, because it's awful? You'll be fine.

The Suicide Squad, which has a stacked cast that includes Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Idris Elba, John Cena, Storm Reid, Flula Borg, Nathan Fillion, Peter Capaldi, Pete Davidson, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Steve Agee, Alice Braga, Sean Gunn, Michael Rooker, Taika Waititi, Joaquín Cosío, Mayling Ng, Juan Diego Botto, Tinashe Kajese, Julio Ruiz, and Jennifer Holland, will hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6, 2021.