Viola Davis Is Reprising Her Role As Amanda Waller In 'The Suicide Squad'

Despite reports that James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is going to be a "total reboot" of David Ayer's Suicide Squad, that seems less and less likely to be the case. Viola Davis, who played the ruthless government agent Amanda Waller in the 2016 comic book movie, will be back in The Suicide Squad, joining Jai Courtney in reprising their roles from the first movie.

The Wrap reports that Viola Davis will return as Amanda Waller in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, which has been reported to be a "reboot" of Ayer's 2016 Suicide Squad. That makes her and Jai Courtney, who played the disorderly Captain Boomerang in Suicide Squad, two actors from the original cast who will be reprising their roles. What does this all mean?

Davis played the Amanda Waller, the ruthless agent who first brought the team of rogues together, in Suicide Squad, charging imprisoned villains like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), and Captain Boomerang (Courtney) to go on dirty missions that would be unseemly for the government or decorated superheroes to carry out. Davis gave one of the film's few standout performances as Amanda Waller, presenting the character with a cutthroat efficiency and unnervingly tough persona that was underserved by the film's messy tone. It would be great to see her reprise that role and finally get something of substance to do — but her return makes the situation around The Suicide Squad all the more confusing.

After it was announced that Idris Elba was replacing Smith as Deadshot, it seemed to add credence to claims that this film would not be a sequel but a complete reboot, with Gunn helming his own version of The Suicide Squad before he returned to Marvel to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. However, when Courtney confirmed his return in The Suicide Squad, that threw a wrench in expectations around this movie.

"For a long time I wasn't even sure if [my return] was going to be the case or not," Courtney recently told Collider. So how did he find out? "I got sent the script," Courtney replied coyly. "It's a great [script], I was surprised by everything [in it]."

So far Davis and Courtney are the only cast from the original film confirmed to return for The Suicide Squad. But with Robbie's Harley Quinn headlining her own spin-off film Birds of Prey, it's likely we can expect her to return too. As for all that hoopla over whether this is a reboot? I guess we can forget that.

The Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 6, 2021.