Last month,Deadpool 2lost directorTim Millerover creative differenceswith star/producerRyan Reynolds. Miller had guided the long-awaited R-rated superhero film to a major box office success, but his vision didn’t jive with what Reynolds wanted for the sequel. Fox, wanting to make sure their new hit franchise doesn’t stall out, quickly set about to find a director, and a few weeks agothere was wordthatJohn Wickco-directorDavid Leitchmight be in the running for the gig.
Today,THRhas confirmed that Leitch will indeed helmDeadpool 2. Apparently, Leitch beat outRupert Sanders(Snow White and the Huntsman),Drew Goddard(The Cabin in the Woods), andMagnus Martens(Banshee), who were on the “to-meet” list for Fox. After Leitch met with Reynolds in New York, he got the offer soon after.
However, Leitch will be a bit of a hired gun. Rather than looking to give a new filmmaker the reign to craft the direction of the franchise going forward, THR also reports that Fox and the producers are currently looking for another director to helmDeadpool 3. It will be interesting to see what happens ifDeadpool 2is a bigger success than the first one and receives more critical acclaim only to then put the franchise in the hands of a completely different filmmaker.
The reasoning seems to be that the real draw here is the character, and that this isn’t going to be a filmmaker-driven franchise, which is fine. I’m hoping that futureDeadpoolmovies are a little more ambitious than the first one since we now know that audiences will definitely turn out for an R-rated superhero film. It’s time to start pushing the envelope not in terms of violence and language, but doing what theDeadpoolcomics do best—skewering the genre.
Leitch recently wrapped filming onThe Coldest City, a Cold War drama starringCharlize Theron,John Goodman,Toby Jones,James McAvoy,Eddie Marsan, andSofia Boutella. The film opens June 10, 2025. There’s currently no word yet on when cameras will start rolling onDeadpool 2.
