John Cena stars as the title character, reprising his role from The Suicide Squad, with Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Chukwudi Iwuji, Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, and Robert Patrick also starring. Gunn conceived Peacemaker after noting Cena's strength as a dramatic actor while filming The Suicide Squad, and wrote the first season while finishing that film. HBO Max ordered it straight-to-series in September 2020. Filming took place in Vancouver, Canada, from January to July 2021, with Gunn directing five episodes. He chose to use hair metal songs for the series' soundtrack, including "Do Ya Wanna Taste It" by Wig Wam for the opening titles dance sequence. A second season was ordered in February 2022, with Gunn again writing all episodes. The season was integrated with the DCU after Gunn was named co-CEO of DC Studios. Filming began in April 2024 at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
Peacemaker premiered on HBO Max on January 13, 2022, with its first three episodes. The other five episodes of the first season were released weekly until February 17. Viewership increased with each episode and the season received positive reviews. The second season will be released on Max. The series has been nominated for several awards, including a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award. A spin-off series, Waller, is in development as part of the DCU.
Premise
The first season follows Christopher Smith / Peacemaker after he recovers from the injuries he suffered during the events of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film The Suicide Squad (2021). Peacemaker is forced to join the mysterious A.R.G.U.S. black ops squad "Project Butterfly",[1] who are on a mission to identify and eliminate parasitic butterfly-like creatures who have taken over human bodies around the world.[2] The second season is set in the DC Universe (DCU) and follows the events of the DCU film Superman (2025).[3]
Chukwudi Iwuji as Clemson Murn: A mercenary and the leader of Project Butterfly who reports directly to Waller.[1][9] He is revealed to be a Butterfly himself called Ik Nobe Lok.[10]
A second season was announced in February 2022, with Gunn set to write and direct all episodes.[14] Filming was set to begin in 2023,[15] but this was delayed when Gunn was made co-CEO of DC Studios and began work on the new DC Universe (DCU).[16] Gunn finished writing all eight episodes by early February 2024.[17] The next month, he revealed that the season would be filmed later that year, simulataneously with the DCU film Superman (2025). Because Gunn was directing that film, he was no longer able to direct all of the episodes of the second season.[18] Filming began on April 13, with Gunn doing a "pre-shoot" on a Saturday to work around his Superman filming commitments. He was directing some of the episodes and had hired three other directors for the season.[19]Principal photography for the season is reportedly taking place between June and September 2024.[20][third-party source needed]
Production
Development
While completing work on the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film The Suicide Squad (2021) in August 2020, writer and director James Gunn began writing a spin-off television series centered on Peacemaker, a character portrayed by John Cena in the film.[4][21]DC Films president Walter Hamada approached the filmmakers of the studio's film slate about creating interconnected spin-off television series for the streaming service HBO Max,[22] and the service ordered Peacemaker straight-to-series in September 2020. Gunn was writing all eight episodes of the first season and directing five. He and Safran were set as executive producers, with Cena as co-executive producer.[4] The season was produced by Gunn's Troll Court Entertainment and the Safran Company in conjunction with Warner Bros. Television.[23] Matt Miller joined as an additional executive producer in December 2020.[24]
HBO Max announced a second season of Peacemaker in February 2022, with Gunn set to write and direct all episodes.[14] That April, Discovery, Inc. and Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), led by president and CEO David Zaslav. The new company was expected to restructure DC Entertainment and Zaslav began searching for an equivalent to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to lead the new subsidiary.[25] Gunn and Safran were announced as the co-chairs and co-CEOs of the newly formed DC Studios at the end of October 2022.[26] A week after starting their new roles, the pair had begun working with a group of writers to develop an eight-to-ten-year plan for a new DC Universe (DCU) that would be a "soft reboot" of the DCEU.[27][28][29] Gunn and Safran said some cast members would return from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker in the DCU, and a "rough memory" of those events would remain.[30] Because Gunn was busy with his new responsibilities, the second season of Peacemaker was put on hold by January 2023.[16]
Later in 2023, Gunn said the second season was his next project after the DCU film Superman (2025),[31][32] and said it would be part of the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate of content.[33] In March 2024, he clarified that the first season was not canon to the DCU and said the second season would be continuing from the events of Superman instead.[3] At that time, he revealed that filming for the season would take place simulataneously with Superman later in 2024, in the interest of getting the season ready as soon as possible, so he was no longer able to direct all of the episodes.[18]
Casting
With the series order in September 2020, John Cena was confirmed to be reprising his role as Peacemaker from The Suicide Squad.[4] The next month, Gunn's close friend Steve Agee joined the series as John Economos, also returning from the film.[12] In November, Gunn's girlfriend Jennifer Holland joined as her The Suicide Squad character Emilia Harcourt, alongside Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith, and Chris Conrad as Adrian Chase / Vigilante.[6][11] Holland was surprised that Gunn brought her character back for the series, believing that her part in The Suicide Squad would be a short one-off role.[34]Chukwudi Iwuji joined the cast as Clemson Murn in December.[9] In late May 2021, Freddie Stroma was cast to replace Conrad as Adrian Chase / Vigilante, after Conrad left the series due to creative differences.[7] Cena confirmed that he would be returning for the second season when it was ordered in February 2022.[14] In July 2023, Gunn said Stroma would reprise his role as Vigilante in the DCU.[35] Also reprising their roles from the first season are Brooks, Holland, and Agee.[36]
Gunn revealed in June 2021 that Clint Mansell and Kevin Kiner were composing the score for the series,[42] after The Suicide Squad composer John Murphy was busy writing the score for Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).[43] A soundtrack album featuring Mansell and Kiner's score was released on February 18, 2022.[44] The first season also features hair metal songs that Gunn selected and wrote into the scripts.[5][45]
Peacemaker premiered on HBO Max on January 13, 2022,[49] with its first three episodes.[50] The series was released in the United Kingdom on March 22, on Sky Max and Now.[51]
Reception
Viewership
Deadline Hollywood reported that each episode of Peacemaker received higher viewership than the last,[52] and HBO Max stated that the season finale's viewership was 44 percent higher than the series premiere's. According to the service, the finale broke the record for highest single day viewership of an HBO Max original episode.[53] In the UK, where Peacemaker was not released until after it had finished airing in the U.S.,[51] the series was the third-most pirated for the first quarter of 2022 after HBO's Euphoria and Disney+'s The Book of Boba Fett.[54]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 94% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10, based on 89 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "John Cena's still in solid form as Peacemaker, leading a bloody good time that gives writer-director James Gunn full permission to let his freak flag fly."[55]Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[56]
In January 2021, Gunn said he had ideas for more The Suicide Squad television spin-offs beyond Peacemaker,[64] and confirmed that he was working on another one a year later.[65] In May 2022, a series featuring Amanda Waller was revealed, with Viola Davis in negotiations to reprise her DCEU role. Christal Henry was writing the series, which was expected to build off Waller's guest appearances in Peacemaker.[66] The next month, Gunn said the series that he had revealed earlier was separate from a potential Amanda Waller project though there would be "some blending" of characters from Peacemaker in both.[67] On January 31, Gunn and Safran unveiled the first projects from their DCU slate, which begins with Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. The second project in the slate was Waller, with Davis confirmed to be reprising her role. Henry was revealed to be working on the overall story for the DCU with Gunn and some other writers, and was set as co-showrunner of Waller alongside Jeremy Carver.[16] The spin-off is expected to be made after the second season of Peacemaker.[18]
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