James Gunn, who helmed the first two Guardians Of The Galaxy films before being dumped by Disney and Marvel over distasteful Twitter jokes, looks set to jump ship to DC Entertainment and Warner Bros for Suicide Squad 2.

io9 broke the story, reporting that Gunn has “a completely new take on the property” and that Warner Bros has appointed him to pen a Suicide Squad script. Gunn has reportedly taken this gig “with an eye to direct” the subsequent feature, but that directorial part of the deal doesn’t seem to be a sure thing as of yet.

Given that the first Suicide Squad film appeared to be DC’s attempt to launch its own ragtag-team-of-criminals franchise as an equivalent to the Guardians movies, bringing in the writer/director of Guardians to course-correct the Suicide Squad series is a masterful piece of business by DC and Warners.

Gunn is yet to comment on the story. But his Drax actor from Guardians, Dave Bautista, took to Twitter to share his enthusiasm and eagerness to get involved:

Where do I sign up! James Gunn Boards ‘Suicide Squad 2’ To Write And Possibly Direct – Deadline https://t.co/OwdDbAm1Ks

— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) October 9, 2018

David Ayer, who directed the previous Suicide Squad, also posted a supportive statement:

I think it’s an incredibly brave and smart move by the studio. James is the right man for the job! https://t.co/KaVD3dQosR

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) October 9, 2018

Suicide Squad 2 doesn’t have a release date yet, but we’ll keep you updated as its development progresses.