‘Suicide Squad 2:’ Jaume Collet-Serra Is Frontrunner to Direct Sequel

Jaume Collet-Serra has emerged as the frontrunner to direct the “Suicide Squad,” an insider with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Collet-Serra, the Spanish director who broke into Hollywood with genre hit “Orphan” has as his next project the Liam Neeson starrer “The Commuter” coming in 2018. Collet-Serra has previously worked with Neeson on “Unknown,” “Non-Stop,” and “Run all Night.”

The first “Suicide Squad” which starred Will Smith and Margot Robbie, earned nearly $750 million worldwide on a $175 million budget before P&A, despite savage reviews.

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David Ayer, who directed the first movie, was never expected to return to the franchise following a harrowing battle with the studio during the edit process.

TheWrap wrote a thorough investigation of the fallout between Ayer and top WB executives, who effectively locked the director out of his own editing room to deliver a lighter romp of a superhero film from the darkness of Ayer’s band of bad guys.

Collet-Serra is repped by CAA and Management 360.

Deadline first reported the news.