News has broke that the upcoming and highly-anticipated "Suicide Squad" movie faces a major setback in its recasting of its main character.

Actor Tom Hardy has officially backed out of his lead role as character "Rick Flagg". The character was posed to be the leader of the group of incarcerated villains, so this leaves a huge gap in the movie's supposed casting.

This setback may hurt the film's popular opinion as the cast was the leading (if not only) selling point at this time.

"Based on DC Entertainment's villains-forced-to-be-heroes characters, the cast boasts a nefarious lineup that includes Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto, along with Jai Courtney and Cara Delevingne," writes Hollywood Reporter.

The remaining line-up still holds up to be impressive but Hardy's performance was highly anticipated as his previous role in a DC film, "The Dark Knight Rises," in which he plays the villain Bane, bought him a lot of credibility in superhero film roles.

"Hardy's exit is due to scheduling, according to sources. The actor is currently shooting The Revenant, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's frontier drama that also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, and that shoot is now looking to go longer than initially planned," writes Hollywood Reporter.

The release of Hardy's latest film, "Mad Max: Fury Road" also lands write in the middle of "Suicide Squad" filming.

In lighter news, there has been talk of Jake Gyllenhaal picking up the role as the titular character in Hardy's place.

"Gyllenhaal has an offer to replace Hardy but it's unclear whether or not the actor will take it on. Gyllenhaal, who worked with Ayer on the acclaimed police thriller End of Watch, is currently on Broadway for his play Constellations. The play runs until mid-March. It's unknown whether that gives the actor enough prep time or down time for a prolonged shoot," according to Hollywood Reporter.

The movie's release date is still set for August 5^th, 2016.