Zack Snyder’s Justice League casts Jared Leto as the Joker

Jared Leto will play the Joker again in the director’s cut of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Leto played the role in 2016’s Suicide Squad, but plans for his appearance Justice League, filmed in 2016, didn’t pan out.

Snyder’s new cut of Justice League, which was originally released in 2017, will be available exclusively on HBO Max sometime in 2021. The director is reshooting parts of the movie, with a reported budget of $70 million for the new, reportedly four-hour version of the film. Snyder stepped down from production on Justice League in 2016 due to a family tragedy, and Warner Bros. selected writer/director Joss Whedon to complete the film.

Leto’s Joker was a supporting character in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, in which he appeared in only a few scenes. The Justice League reshoots are currently underway, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ben Affleck (Batman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg), and Amber Heard (Mera) are all part of the new production. It’s unclear how much Leto will appear in the reworked film, which is officially titled Zack Snyder’s Justice League, nor are there any indications that other characters from Suicide Squad, like Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, will appear.

The Hollywood Reporter also said studio executives Jon Berg and Geoff Johns will not receive producer credits on the new film. In September, Cyborg actor Fisher suggested Whedon created a toxic on-set environment during Justice League’s original production, noting that Whedon’s behavior was enabled by Berg and Johns. A Hollywood Reporter source said the move is “unconnected to comments made by Fisher.”