According to sources close to the project and who are definitely pretty sure this time, Joel Kinnaman is now the likely choice to play Rick Flagg in Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad—a role that has already passed through Tom Hardy and Jake Gyllenhaal before him, and that has somehow become even more difficult to nail down than finding someone willing to be the next Joker or getting Will Smith to act in an ensemble.
Though Hardy was initially announced alongside Smith’s Deadshot, Jared Leto’s Joker, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, and Jai Courtney’s Boomerang, he soon dropped out due to conflicts with filming Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu’s The Revenant. Director David Ayer then approached his End Of Watch star Gyllenhaal, but they couldn’t reach an agreement, for whatever reason. So now it’s Kinnaman’s turn to be considered for the head of DC Comics’ gang of government-conscripted supervillains. Fortunately, Kinnaman’s no stranger to thankless tasks—having starred in the RoboCop reboot—nor to grim situations that make you suicidal, having starred in The Killing. Maybe this one will stick.