David Ayer admits James Gunn has good reason not to release his cut of Suicide Squad, but he remains hopeful it'll happen

The cast of Suicide Squad (2016) — (Image credit: Warner Bros.)

David Ayer is still clinging onto a sliver of hope his cut of 2016's Suicide Squad might see the light of day. Right now, there's no movement, but the director understands why James Gunn is focused on other priorities.

On the back of new movie A Working Man, starring Jason Statham, Ayer did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. As ever, his version of Suicide Squad came up, the Ayer Cut as it were, and nothing has changed, though he notes Gunn isn’t in a position to look into it at the minute.

"When I did speak with James, he wanted to get some scores on the board," Ayer explains. "DC has its history and its legacy, and it's taking some work to reestablish that IP and get it moving in the direction they want. So it's absolutely fair for them to do that."

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At this point, he hopes maybe there'll be more demand through some form of anniversary or something. His Suicide Squad will be 10 years old next year (sorry), and Ayer is adamant about all the work everyone put into his vision of the anti-hero team’s first film. "Maybe with enough time, it'll be seen as a more nostalgic thing," he adds. "But just for the sake of everybody that worked on it, it really does deserve to be seen. I am incredibly proud of the work I did there."

Suicide Squad had a complicated editing process. While Ayer was working on his cut, Warner Bros had another version put together by the company behind the movie's trailers. Eventually, the studio decided to do some reshoots and cut everything together after vetoing a lot of Ayer's original ideas.

He's since been adamant about getting his cut out there, similar to what Zack Snyder eventually got to do for Justice League. Whether or not we ever see the Ayer Cut remains in the air, but he continues to make new movies regardless.

A Working Man, co-written by Ayer and Sylvester Stallone, opens March 28, 2025. We have guides on Superman and all the upcoming DC movies to tell you what's going on with the DCU currently.

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.