It seems as if Michael Rooker is staying faithful to the man who helped elevate him in the comic-book movie fandom, as he in in talks to star in James Gunn’s upcoming The Suicide Squad.
Rooker is most famous among comic-book fans for portraying Merle Dixon in the AMC series The Walking Dead from 2010-2013, as well as Yondu Udonta in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 directed by James Gunn.
While Gunn is remaining with Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he is attached to direct the third installment to the Guardians trilogy a currently unknown release date. His recent controversy, which saw him “fired” from Marvel, worked in his favor as Warner Bros. and DC approached him to direct their upcoming The Suicide Squad movie. The film will reportedly be a soft reboot of 2015’s Suicide Squad.
In this reboot/sequel, Gunn is set to introduce new characters to the team’s roster including Polka-Dot Man, Peacemaker and King Shark, the latter of whom is who Michael Rooker is in talks to play.
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While King Shark is a computer-generated character being a humanoid shark, Rooker is in talks to portray the DC supervillain and potentially also perform the motion-capture. Along with the new characters, The Suicide Squad has been confirmed to also star returning characters Harley Quinn, Rick Flag, Amanda Waller, and Captain Boomerang portrayed by returning actors Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnerman, Viola Davis and Jai Courtney respectively.
King Shark first appeared in DC Comics Superboy Vol. 3 in 1984, originally serving as a villain to Superboy before becoming part of The Flash’s Rogues Gallery. While the villain was set to appear in an early script of David Ayers’ Suicide Squad, he was ultimately cut and instead made his first, and thus far only, live-action appearance on The CW’s The Flash in 2016.
Rooker can currently be seen in the biopic Bolden telling the life of cornetist Buddy Bolden and starring Gary Carr in the titular role.
With no official confirmation of casting made at this time about The Suicide Squad’s new characters, this story will be updated as it develops.
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