One thing is for certain. Deadpool 2 won't be the same kind of movie as Deadpool, as the sequel has lost a key ingredient in the first movie's success. Director Tim Miller has exited the project. While Ryan Reynolds is certainly the mouthpiece for the Merc with the Mouth, Deadpool's success was built on the backs of four individuals over the course of ten years. And it was a truly collaborative effort between Reynolds, Miller and the two screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The next one won't be that.

The split came after creative differences between Tim Miller and star/producer Ryan Reynolds began to rise during preproduction. Though it was widely reported that Tim Miller was coming back to helm Deadpool 2, the director never officially signed onto the movie. He had been helping to develop the script, and it certainly seemed as though he would be back.

This report comes from Deadline, and states that Deadpool 2 will be in theaters in 2018. Yet, 20th Century Fox has not officially announced a release date. It's stated that the divorce between Ryan Reynolds and Tim Miller was amicably. And the studio is not abandoning Tim Miller altogether.

It's expected that Miller, who made his directorial debut with Deadpool, will find himself attached to another high profile project soon enough. It's even being speculated that the filmmaker is already gearing up to announce his next project with Fox called Influx, which is an adaptation of the Daniel Suarez book, with Mark Bomback writing the screenplay. Influx is being looked at as a new trilogy franchise.

The Deadpool 2 split certainly feels like watching your friend's parents split up. The movie was in development hell forever, and the team behind Deadpool pushed the boundaries of its marketing campaign to help the superhero adventure become one of the biggest blockbusters of this year, breaking plenty of records and going onto becoming the highest grossing R-Rated movie of all-time. In this situation, it would have been almost inconceivable to fire Ryan Reynolds and keep Tim Miller on, since Reynolds is the face of the franchise and also a very active producer and story collaborator.

It is said that Tim Miller graciously stepped down, and that's one of the reasons he was allowed to move so quickly into Influx, though he hasn't been confirmed for that movie by Fox just yet. The exit is said to have happened late Friday, so all the wounds are still fresh. The news tops a week that saw the release of not one but two trailers for the next X-Men spin-off Logan, which was received well by fans. It, like Deadpool, will be another R-Rated X-Men adventure.