Jeffrey Dean Morgan says James Gunn “killed it” with his supervillain-slaughtering DC movie The Suicide Squad — and he’s still waiting on a call to return to the DC Films franchise where he played Thomas Wayne. After starring in DC adaptations Watchmen and The Losers and making an uncredited cameo in DC’s Jonah Hex, Morgan played the ill-fated father of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The second film in the DC Extended Universe, the shared continuity home to The Suicide Squad, was once rumored to springboard Morgan into another movie as the Flashpoint Batman — an even more violent version of the Dark Knight from another universe.
“Just finished #suicidesquad!! Brother @JamesGunn KILLED it,” the Walking Dead star tweeted Friday. “Movie is a high octane, side splitting blast! Perfect cast, beautifully shot. Camera moves are insane! Still trying to work out how the f-ck you did a few of those oners!! Bravo buddy. I’m still waiting btw… xjdm #DC.”
Just finished #suicidesquad!! Brother @JamesGunn KILLED it! Movie is a high octane, side splitting blast! Perfect cast, beautifully shot. Camera moves are insane! Still trying to work out how the fuck you did a few of those oners!! Bravo buddy. I’m still waiting btw… xjdm #DC
— Jeffrey Dean Morgan (@JDMorgan) August 7, 2021
In 2012, Morgan told Collider he wished to star in the Gunn-scripted Pure, calling it “the most original screenplay I’ve read in maybe my whole life.” Morgan said at the time that the ultimately never-made movie, about a serial killer who pens children’s books, is “kind of indescribable.”
Morgan has long expressed a desire to return to the DC universe, whether that means donning the cape and cowl as the Thomas Wayne Batman or playing DC’s cigar-chomping and ultra-gritty alien anti-hero Lobo.
“Michael Keaton swooped in and took my gig,” Morgan quipped in an interview with ComicBook, referring to the Batman star’s return as an older caped crusader opposite Affleck in The Flash movie. “Naw, I think that’s super cool. Ever since Zack Snyder walked away, my whole kind of bit in that world has walked away with him. However, there’s always a chat going on. So, we’ll see!”
The 55-year-old actor previously said he would “say yes” to playing the costumed crime-fighter Thomas Wayne of another universe, telling ComicBook: “I would love to do it. But, you know, DC is DC and…it seems like they’re always kinda switching up who’s running it and what they’re gonna do. So hopefully, what I’d like to see is a little continuity with DC, have them get on the track, and then, man, I’d be honored and love to do it more than anything.”
Morgan next reprises his role as Negan in the eleventh and final season of The Walking Dead premiering August 22 on AMC. The Suicide Squad is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max through September 6.
