John Wick director may board Deadpool 2

20th Century Fox may have found the new director for ‘Deadpool 2,’ a new report claims – and it’s one half of the directorial duo behind acclaimed action movie ‘John Wick.’

According to Mashable, sources on board the R-rated superhero sequel confirm that David Leitch is the ‘strong frontrunner’ to take over from ‘Deadpool’ director Tim Miller, who departed from the movie last week over reported creative differences with star and producer Ryan Reynolds.

Update: Deadline have since announced that Drew Goddard (’The Cabin in the Woods’) and Magnuss Martens (Netflix’s ‘Luke Cage’) are also in contention for the director’s chair on ‘Deadpool 2.’

Benedict Cumberbatch second Doctor Strange role
Spider-Man still unconfirmed for Avengers: Infinity War
Roger Moore backs Aidan Turner for next James Bond

While Leitch (pictured left below, with ‘John Wick’s sole credited director Chad Stahelski) is officially credited only as a producer on the Keanu Reeves hitman extravaganza, he is known to have co-directed the film with Stahelski but was unable to take credit due to Director’s Guild of America rules.

Prior to becoming a director, Leitch worked extensively in stunts – including, not for nothing, co-ordinating the action scenes on ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine,’ the first film in which Reynolds portrayed Deadpool/Wade Wilson for the first time (even though everyone tries to pretend it never happened now).

Leitch’s impressive stunt work CV also includes ‘The Matrix’ trilogy, ‘300,’ ‘Blade’ and ‘Daredevil.’ He has since served as second unit director on ‘The Wolverine,’ ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Jurassic World.’

Mashable’s report mentions that other, unspecified directors may be under consideration, and emphasises that no official offer has been made to Leitch yet, but as ‘Deadpool 2’ is expected to go into production early 2017, Fox won’t want to wait too long to find their new director.

‘Deadpool 2’ is scheduled to hit screens March 2018.

Picture Credit: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, WENN