UPDATE: TheWrap has published a report potentially shedding some more light as to why director, Tim Miller bowed out of helming “Deadpool 2.” Allegedly, Miller and Reynolds disagreed over the casting of Cable, who is indeed a big part of the sequel, with Miller wanting “Bloodline” and “Friday Night Lights” star, Kyle Chandler for the part, which Reynolds objected to. When 20th Century Fox sided with Reynolds, that was when Miller decided not to direct “Deadpool 2.” TheWrap also claims that Miller’s vision was for a more stylized, action-heavy sequel, while Reynolds wanted to keep the sequel along the same raunchy, irreverent style of tongue-in-cheek comedy. Despite the prior reports saying that the departure was, “Amicable”, TheWrap also claims that Miller and Reynolds had a contentious working relationship for a while. Fox is apparently currently meeting with actresses to play the female lead role, Domino, but, “Deadpool 2” remains without a firm start date, replacement director or release date for now.
Original report follows:
Despite making quite a splash with his feature film directing debut in this year’s Deadpool, it’s unfortunately just been confirmed by official source, Deadline that Tim Miller has dropped out of helming the movie’s sequel. This is quite a considerable snag for Deadpool 2, as it was meant to begin filming at the start of 2017, for a likely 2018 release.
Miller walking away from the director’s chair was apparently due to creative differences with lead star and producer, Ryan Reynolds. The split appears to be amicable however, as Miller has already moved on to helming a new project for Fox, that being sci-fi thriller, Influx. Miller’s departure nonetheless leaves Fox in a shaky position with Deadpool 2 however, as they must quickly scramble to find a replacement director, or risk having to delay the much-anticipated sequel’s release plan further.
Little is known about Deadpool 2, beyond the confirmation of Reynolds returning as the titular anti-hero, though the movie is rumoured to feature two new mutant supporting characters in Cable and Domino (Cable was even directly name-dropped for the sequel in Deadpool’s cheeky post-credits sequence), and will possibly involve underground mutant faction, the Morlocks as villains. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick remain onboard as screenwriters for Deadpool 2, after also penning the script for the first movie.
20th Century Fox’s X-Men movie universe only has one firmly-dated project at this point, that being next year’s third Wolverine movie, Logan, which hits theatres on March 3rd, and just recently released its first teaser trailer. Fox has previously reserved dates for two other unknown Marvel-licensed movies, on October 6th, 2017, and January 12th, 2018, with the latter date originally believed to be held with Deadpool 2 in mind. It’s unlikely that Fox is still holding either of these dates for a Marvel movie though, since the October 6th, 2017 date doesn’t leave enough time to get any of Fox’s several in-development X-Men movie projects to theatres by that deadline, and Fox recently filled the January 12th, 2018 date with delayed sci-fi threequel, Maze Runner: The Death Cure.
Aside from Deadpool 2, Fox has also announced a movie adaptation of New Mutants, as well as a solo Gambit movie, though Gambit has been indefinitely delayed, after it was supposed to come out earlier this month, and currently appears to be in development hell. Fox’s Fantastic Four film franchise also remains completely in limbo, after the planned sequel to last year’s disastrous reboot ended up yanked from its release date next year, and rumours continue to swirl that the Fantastic Four film rights will either be shared with or completely sold back to Marvel soon.
Keep mutating Eggplante for all major news and updates on Deadpool 2, and other movies set in Fox’s X-Men movie universe.