The Suicide Squad cast knew who would die before filming began

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James Gunn's Suicide Squad movie is R-rated for a reason

The Suicide Squad
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The Suicide Squad sounds like it'll be one of the hottest movies this summer. 

James Gunn's R-rated take on the DC supervillain group looks like it'll be a rip-roaring good time, judging by the trailer that landed online in March, and we already know that there will be plenty of character deaths when it arrives in theaters worldwide.

Now, Gunn has revealed that every member of the film's cast was told whether their character would live or die before they began shooting the film — and it sounds like it was important that his stars knew that fact before they signed on.

Taking to Twitter to follow up on one of Gunn's earlier tweets, an intrigued fan asked the director if he decided against telling his cast about their character's chances of survival.

Gunn, though, explained that the likes of Margot Robbie, Idris Elba and John Cena were made aware of who would live to fight another day and who wouldn't. For spoiler reasons, naturally, he didn't say anything else on the matter, too.

Check out Gunn's tweet below:

Analysis: why The Suicide Squad cast had to be told who would die

Some fans may wonder if Gunn's approach was the right one to take. After all, it might have made for better viewing if certain cast members didn't know who would live or die. That way, their reactions to a fellow villain's potential death would be more genuine when captured on film.

However, it makes sense that Gunn informed everyone if their on-screen counterpart would survive or not.  There's no point in keeping actors in the dark about how it might end for their character. Withholding that information might have made for some tense conversations down the line, particularly if any cast members were unhappy about signing on for a movie, only appearing in a few scenes and then dying immediately after.

Knowing if and when their characters would die may have also prevented any of The Suicide Squad's stars from determining how they would bumped off. As Gunn revealed in another tweet, none of the film's stars were allowed to make requests about the manner in which they were killed off.

Again, this makes sense. Gunn will have already penned the script for The Suicide Squad before hiring its actors. Altering how characters are killed, based on recommendations by their stars, could only have caused issues before or during filming if the movie's plot was changed to accommodate any requests.

It sounds, then, that The Suicide Squad's large cast were only too happy to learn whether their characters would live or die in Gunn's new film. And we won't have long to wait until we find out exactly who survives and who perishes.

The Suicide Squad arrives in UK cinemas on July 30, before opening in US theaters on August 6.

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Tom Power
Senior Entertainment Reporter

As TechRadar's senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You'll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.

An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Tom also writes reviews, analytical articles, opinion pieces, and interview-led features on the biggest franchises, actors, directors and other industry leaders. You may see his quotes pop up in the odd official Marvel Studios video, too, such as this Moon Knight TV spot.

Away from work, Tom can be found checking out the latest video games, immersing himself in his favorite sporting pastime of football, reading the many unread books on his shelf, staying fit at the gym, and petting every dog he comes across. Got a scoop, interesting story, or an intriguing angle on the latest news in entertainment? Feel free to drop him a line.