Idris Elba is no longer replacing Will Smith as Deadshot in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.

Word is, Idris Elba will portray a new character instead. Read on…

CelebNMovies247.com reports that the DC Extended Universe has undergone some dramatic changes in the aftermath of Justice League’s box office bomb.

So far, The Flash and Green Lantern Corps films have fallen by the wayside for now.  And now in spite of the shifting tides, the followup to David Ayer’s commercial hit Suicide Squad is still chugging along with James Gunn at the helm.

DCEU producer Peter Safran recently described The Suicide Squad as a “total reboot” of the franchise, it’s become clear that isn’t really true.

In addition, Margot Robbie is set to reprise her Suicide Squad role as Harley Quinn in Gunn’s movie, and Jai Courtney has now confirmed that he’ll be back as Captain Boomerang too.

Unfortunately, Will Smith was originally slated to reprise his role as Deadshot in Gunn’s movie but has since stepped away from the project due to a scheduling conflict.

Enter Idris Elba who was originally said to be replacing Smith as Deadshot in The Suicide Squad has turned out untrue. Variety has since learned that the actor will play a new character instead.

That will leave the door open for Smith to play Deadshot again in the future (either in Suicide Squad 3 or maybe even the previously-discussed Deadshot solo film). All things considered, this sounds like a smart move.

Variety says the team behind Gunn’s movie were concerned that replacing Smith this way was disrespectful since he stepped away from the film because of scheduling issues.

As for who Elba will play in the DCEU… well, that’s open to speculation for the time being. New additions to the team like King Shark, Peacemaker, Polka-Dot Man, and Ratcatcher, though it’s possible the plan is for Elba to play someone else entirely.

Warner Bros. is trying to distance Gunn’s film from Ayer’s critically derided Suicide Squad movie by calling it a reboot.