HBO Max has given Peacemaker, a spinoff of 2021's The Suicide Squad, a straight-to-series order of eight episodes.
James Gunn, director of the Suicide Squad sequel, will write every episode and direct a number of them in the hopes of preparing the show for a release close to the film. John Cena will reprise his role in the series, which will explore the origins of Peacemaker, a character Cena described as "douchey Captain America", while James Gunn says he is "a man who believes in peace at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill to get it".
Peacemaker is the second upcoming HBO Max original series to tie in to a future DC Films project, after the recent announcement of an untitled Gotham P.D. show set in the world of The Batman. Interestingly, both series are prequels to their respective movies, with the Gotham show dipping its toes into the origins of Batman ("Year One") while the movie is set slightly later ("Year Two"). The Peacemaker announcement does bring up the question of whether or not Cena's character will survive the events of The Suicide Squad, as an entire streaming series about a character who is ultimately killed off doesn't sound like something Warner Bros. would go for.
If Marvel fans are worried that this series will further delay James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, originally meant to film in 2019, don't worry - Gunn stated on Twitter that he is doing Peacemaker in the time he always had off between the two films, and wrote a TV series since he was stuck at home.
Are you excited for Peacemaker? Personally, I'm not super interested since I know nothing about the character, and it seems premature and kind of ridiculous for this to be the first DCEU streaming series. I'll probably watch it when it does debut, though, and hopefully I like him in The Suicide Squad. What do you think? Comment below!
The Suicide Squad releases on August 6th, 2021, and will feature the return of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn as well as the onscreen debut of many of DC's most iconic supervillains.
Source: Deadline