Why Joe Manganiello isn't ruling out Zack Snyder's DC universe continuing post-Justice League

Joe Manganiello, who plays Deathstroke in the DCEU, isn't ruling out a continuation to the Snyder-verse.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, when asked if he agreed that Zack Snyder's Justice League would stir interest for potential further Snyder-verse projects, or even a Deathstroke HBO Max series, Manganiello commented: "I agree 100 per cent... However you look at it, it's like, I think there's gonna be excitement over continuing what Zack was up to." 

As for saying goodbye to Deathstroke, he teased: "It's also not over currently. There are little irons that are in the fire."

Manganiello also said that he was at one point standing by for a role in the unmade Suicide Squad sequel. "There were like four or five different versions of Suicide Squad 2 that I was put on hold for, for dates waiting for one actor to free up and we were gonna go," the actor remembered. "That happened like four or five times and never came to fruition." Some versions of the movie, he commented, involved Will Smith – the actor played Deadshot in David Ayer's Suicide Squad, but is absent from James Gunn's soft-reboot/sequel The Suicide Squad arriving this summer.

Manganiello's Deathstroke is returning to our screens in Zack Snyder's Justice League, featuring in the Knightmare timeline – which we've got a glimpse at in a new teaser – and also in the post-credits scene. This will be the original version of the sting that set up Ben Affleck's solo Batman movie, which had Deathstroke as its main villain. Don't hold your breath for that Batfleck project to ever come to light, though – Manganiello agreed we would "probably not" get to see it. He has spoken about the project before, however, revealing "it was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce's life from the inside out."

Zack Snyder's Justice League arrives this March 18 on HBO Max in the US, and simultaneously on VOD services around the world (with a few exceptions). Until then, check out how to watch DC movies in order to get up to speed with the DCEU's goings on, and find the best HBO Max prices and deals.