If you haven’t been watching James Gunn’s Peacemaker series on HBO Max, and you only know that character from The Suicide Squad, you are missing out on some exciting and totally unexpected character development, as well an awards-worthy performance by John Cena in the lead role. While Peacemaker came across as a simple-minded, bloodthirsty caveman in The Suicide Squad, Cena and Gunn have used the extra time that a television series affords to really break the character down to his core, exploring daddy issues and fitting him into a team of misfits while also setting up a riveting alien-invasion plotline. It’s unlike anything I expected to see, and James Gunn thinks he will be able to do more.
When we spoke with James Gunn on behalf of Peacemaker, we asked him if he thought a second season was in the cards, and if he has gone so far as to begin mapping out where the story could take him. He admitted to CinemaBlend:
I’m not mapping out a second season, but I think about it a lot, and we talk about it a lot. And I think that John and I are both (thinking) that if we can figure everything out correctly, we’ll see what happens. But we’re into it. We want to do it.
Talks must be progressing on Peacemaker season 2, because James Gunn told Deadline on January 28, following the release of the fifth episode of the season:
There’s a really good chance of that. We’re the biggest show in the world right now.
Granted, that statement is reliant on metrics that we are not privy to. There are tools that do measure the popularity of a streaming service’s programs, and those tools indicate that John Cena’s Peacemaker is packing in quite an audience. The show trends on social media (for positive reasons) after new episodes drops. And the story Gunn has whipped up for Peacemaker has been crazy and unpredictable.
In fact, as he opened up to Deadline’s Hero Nation, he also teased an additional HBO Max series that he has in the works, though to what extent, he did not elaborate. Said Gunn:
We’re working on something else now, another TV show that’s connected to that universe. I can’t quite say. … It is connected to this universe, and I don’t think it will be the same genre as Peacemaker; it won’t be as much a comedy as Peacemaker, but it will be in the same universe.
Which leaves us to speculate. James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad certainly offered up a slew of interesting characters that could be explored in a multi-episode HBO Max series, from Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 or David Dastmalchian’s Polka-Dot Man all the way up to Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Given how eager DC and HBO Max were to latch onto Gunn’s wagon once he pitched the movie, followed by the show, we expect that they’ll be ready with open arms (and a checkbook) as soon as he has moved on from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and is prepared to dive back into this colorful and crazy DC universe.
Peacemaker ranks as one of the one of the best HBO Max shows available right now, and we’re certain season two would be just as wild, so subscribe to the service while the rates are still low. Here’s hoping Gunn gets the chance to pull it off.
