Jake Gyllenhaal Replaces Tom Hardy in ‘Suicide Squad’ [UPDATE]

UPDATE: It has been clarified that Jake Gyllenhaal is only in the running to replace Tom Hardy, it has not been confirmed. We apologize for the mistake.

Trying to decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Tom Hardy has just departed from Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad for scheduling reasons and has been replaced by Jake Gyllenhaal.

From TheWrap:

Hardy was forced to exit the project because Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “The Revenant” is going over schedule into mid-March, after which Hardy will be needed to promote WB’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which comes out on May 15. “Suicide Squad” is expected to start production in April, and that time crunch is why Hardy had to drop out of the film.

Let’s get the bad out of the way: No more Tom Hardy. While Margot Robbie and Jared Leto’s Harley Quinn and Joker respectively remain my number one reason to see Suicide Squad, Tom Hardy as Rick Flagg could have been a show stealer because he practically show steals every time. Even the terrible Bane from The Dark Knight Rises is a fun watch if you’re in the right headspace.

Now for the good: Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal has always been a captivating actor, but this year’s Nightcrawler made everyone rally for him when he was curiously snubbed for an Oscar earlier today (reactions to that coming soon). His omission from the race (among others, like everyone involved with Selma) has been a point of backlash against the Academy today, and I’ve seen no shortage of outrage on behalf of Gyllenhaal on social media.

There’s cold comfort in that Tom Hardy left for the simple reason that he can’t make time for it. There was no diva breakdown or hatred or bad blood for anyone or for the superhero genre. In any case, Suicide Squad remains the DC movie to watch, and they have an incredibly solid choice in Gyllenhaal.

Suicide Squad is set for release August 5, 2016. (Holy shit, I will have seen a Power Rangers movie by then.)