Might Viola Davis join ‘Suicide Squad’?

Story highlights

Viola Davis might be cast as Amanda Waller

Rumors indicate she's close to landing the role

It would offer something different than what she's played in the past

CNN  — 

There’s another casting rumor going around about “Suicide Squad,” and this one is a doozy.

According to Latino-Review, Viola Davis is said to be in negotiations to land the role of Amanda Waller in the upcoming movie, which is based on the DC Comics series.

Studio Warner Bros. Pictures, which shares a parent company with CNN, has already announced some of “Suicide Squad’s” cast. Jared Leto will play the Joker, Will Smith will portray Deadshot, and Margot Robbie has been cast as the Joker’s girlfriend, Harley Quinn.

Jared Leto is Joker, Will Smith is Deadshot in ‘Suicide Squad’

One lingering casting announcement is that of Waller, the government agent who heads up “Suicide Squad’s” team of villainous antiheroes. Davis has long been thought of as a contender for the role, along with Oprah Winfrey and Octavia Spencer.

Should Davis be made an official member of the cast, she’ll have to clear room in an already packed schedule. In addition to appearing in two dramatic films slated for release in 2015, she’s also now the star of ABC’s hit drama “How To Get Away with Murder” – a show that’s given Davis the kind of meaty leading role she’d been waiting for.

“I have been given a lot of roles that are downtrodden, mammy-ish,” Davis told The New York Times’ Magazine in September. “A lot of lawyers or doctors who have names but absolutely no lives. You’re going to get your three or four scenes, you’re not going to be able to show what you can do. You’re going to get your little bitty paycheck, and then you’re going to be hungry for your next role, which is going to be absolutely the same. That’s the truth.”

If nothing else, playing Amanda Waller would definitely be a change of pace.

In addition to Leto, Smith and Robbie, “Suicide Squad” also stars Tom Hardy as Rick Flagg, Jai Courtney as Boomerang and Cara Delevingne as Enchantress. The movie’s scheduled to arrive in theaters on August 5, 2016.