Exclusive: Joel Kinnaman on Rick Flag’s return in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad
Coming out this week from Warner Bros. Pictures is The Suicide Squad, James Gunn’s forthcoming DC movie that will arrive in theaters and on HBO Max on Friday, August 6.
The ensemble roster for Gunn’s standalone sequel includes the return of DCEU alums Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, and Viola Davis, who are reprising their roles as Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Rick Flag, and Amanda Waller from the 2016 David Ayer-directed film.
The film will also feature the introduction of new characters, including Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, Michael Rooker as Savant, Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Joaquín Cosio as Mateo Suarez, Juan Diego Botto as Silvio Luna, Storm Reid as Tyla, Nathan Fillion as T.D.K., Sean Gunn as Weasel, Mayling Ng as Mongal, Flula Borg as Javelin, Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, Tinashe Kajese as Flo Crawley and Sylvester Stallone as King Shark along with Steve Agee and Taika Waititi in undisclosed roles.
Welcome to hell — a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and- destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.
For Kinnaman, who is reprising his role as Rick Flag, he gets to work with a new set of cast members and have a little more fun with his character than he did in the first film. Best known for his television roles in AMC's The Killing, the first season of Netflix’s Altered Carbon, and in the U.S. version of House of Cards, his film credits include the RoboCop remake, Run All Night, The Informer, and The Secrets We Keep. He was recently seen in Season 4 of HBO’s In Treatment and currently has a starring role in the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind.
BlackFilmandTV.com’s Wilson Morales caught up with Kinnaman as he spoke about his return in The Suicide Squad.