Why Did Scott Eastwood Decline The Suicide Squad Sequel?
Scott Eastwood’s character in Suicide Squad, Lieutenant GQ Edwards, may have been present in The Suicide Squad, if it wasn’t for the advice from Eastwood’s father, Clint Eastwood, as he said in an interview.
Scott Eastwood was invited by Warner Bros
When Eastwood was invited by Warner Bros, whose father happens to be the Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, to re-join the cast of the sequel helmed by James Gunn to David Ayer’s 2016 team-up, Suicide Squad, he wasn’t really sure what to do. So he called up his father, and once he got a little clarity, the actor ultimately bowed out. And well, let’s be honest: this decision certainly saved Lt. Edwards’s life, considering what happened to most returning characters in The Suicide Squad.
The bit about “…if it’s a good part” might have been a dealbreaker, keeping in mind that characters like Rick Flag and Captain Boomerang didn’t make it out alive. It’s quite plausible that Eastwood’s character would also have been killed off at a point, which would have added salt to the injury, already given that his role was cut to the bone in Suicide Squad after some interference by the studio to reshape the film.
“I have talked to David [Ayer], and I know my character got a lot more love in the Ayer cut,” Eastwood said.
On the contrary, The Suicide Squad has done well to give a bigger life to some of the BTS characters from the division of Amanda Waller with Peacemaker, so if Eastwood’s character were to be involved even behind the desk, he could have had some fun with it.
However, it wasn’t life and death that helped him decide to pass on the film. Instead, Eastwood was quite frustrated that Warners’ had actually wanted him to sign a three-movie deal, however, with no guarantee as to what those movies would be about.
“They didn’t want to pay me any money for those next movies and they didn’t have another script for the other movie, so I didn’t know what I was going to be signing myself up for,” Eastwood told Insider, adding that his father advised him “If it feels like they really need you and if it’s a good part, then do it. If not, then don’t.”
“I didn’t have the answer to those questions at that time,” Eastwood said. “I wasn’t going to have the answers, and they were pressuring me. So ultimately it didn’t happen.”
