While it initially looked like John Cena’s outing as Christopher Smith, a.k.a. Peacemaker, in The Suicide Squad would be a one-and-done deal, the movie’s mid-credits scene revealed he survived being gunned down by Idris Elba’s Bloodsport. This set the stage for HBO Max’s Peacemaker spinoff series, which debuted last month. The show’s season finale premieres tomorrow… that’s right, I said season finale. Cena has confirmed that Peacemaker has officially been renewed for Season 2, and there’s more good news.
In addition to Peacemaker returning for a second season at a yet-to-be-announced date, James Gunn, the filmmaker behind The Suicide Squad who wrote all of Peacemaker’s episodes and directed five of them, will resume those duties for all of Season 2’s episodes. Here’s what John Cena had to say on Twitter about returning as his DC Comics character:
Learning about and eventually becoming #PEACEMAKER was an exercise in exploring the fun and absolutely genius mind of @JamesGunn. It’s been a privilege to work on this show and with the cast, crew and @hbomax team. Elated to say we’ll be back to create more peace for Season ✌️! pic.twitter.com/ujeeXODvOnFebruary 16, 2022
James Gunn also shared the following statement about Peacemaker Season 2 in HBO Max’s official renewal announcement:
Creating Peacemaker has been one of the true highlights of my life, both professionally and otherwise, with John Cena and the incredible creative team around me, as well as our partners at HBO Max. To have something we all love so much be loved by the audience in turn has been a wonderful experience. I can’t wait for folks to see where Team Peacemaker goes in Season Two!
In addition to John Cena as the star of the show, Peacemaker also brought back Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt and Steve Agee’s John Economos, both of whom were by Amanda Waller’s side during The Suicide Squad. The newcomers in Season 1’s main cast included Danielle Brooke’s Leota Adebayo, Freddie Stroma’s Adrian Chase/Vigilante, Chukwudi Iwuji’s Clemson Murn and Robert Patrick’s Auggie Smith. Oh, and let’s not forget the beloved Eagley, who was a CGI creation. Jody Hill, Rosemary Rodriguez and Brad Anderson were the other directors who joined James Gunn in helming Season 1 episodes.
Peacemaker is the first original DC Comics series to premiere on HBO Max, since Titans and Doom Patrol both started out on DC Universe (now known as the comics-only DC Universe Infinite). It’s also the first TV show under the DC Extended Universe umbrella, with others in development including Justice League Dark and another The Suicide Squad spinoff series that James Gunn is working on. Other DC shows HBO Max has coming up include Green Lantern and The Batman spinoffs centered on the GCPD and The Penguin, respectively.
Because James Gunn is in the middle of making Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (which he’s described as “big and dark”), it may be a while until he can turn his attention to Peacemaker Season 2. Regardless, we’ll pass along any major updates about these next batch of episodes, and in the meantime, you can keep checking back with us for news about other HBO Max shows.
