Taika Waititi initially had a different role in The Suicide Squad

(Image credit: Warner Bros./DC)

Taika Waititi appears in The Suicide Squad for a few brief seconds – we won't spoil who the actor plays – but the actor/writer/director's part was originally going to be bigger. James Gunn, who helms the new DC adventure, has revealed that Waititi was set to play a doomed Task Force X member.

"I actually thought about Taika for another role and I offered it to him and he said, 'I don't know,'" Gunn told IndieWire. "He was working on [his live-action remake of] Akira at the time, and he said, 'I had to give you my answer in like two weeks,' he totally wanted to do it. It was one of the other superheroes. And he said that he wanted to do it and then Akira got greenlit and it was happening."

Gunn went on to refuse to reveal which actor ended up taking the role intended for Waititi, saying: "I would feel too bad." However, he did add that "it's one of the guys from the beginning" who ends up dead.

How did Waititi end up in the movie at all, then? Akira ended up falling through. "Then, all of a sudden, it fell apart and [Taika] wrote me and he said, ‘Oh, [the] fucking movie fell apart. Is that role is still available?,'" Gunn said. "And I said, 'No, but let me get you in something else.'"

Akira not happening was not only good news for Gunn, but also for Marvel fans, as Waititi instead signed on to direct Thor: Love and Thunder, the next installment in the MCU's Thor series. That movie will also feature the Guardians of the Galaxy, who were first brought to the big screen by Gunn!

Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.