If you’re excited about James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, you’re definitely going to want to see its spinoff show. Gunn has been working on the Peacemaker HBO Max series starring WWE legend John Cena since 2020, even as he was putting the final touches on the movie. The film garnered rave reviews, and if the series carries forward the blood and brilliance of the movie, it’s sure to be a massive hit.
Cena’s Christopher Smith / Peacemaker is introduced in The Suicide Squad as a self-righteous psychopath who wants to achieve “peace” by any means necessary. Peacemaker will be diving deeper into what drives the character, revealing how he became the ruthless killer he is in the movie.
Not much has been revealed about the upcoming series, but some details have been announced in the run-up to the premiere of The Suicide Squad. So we’ve put together everything we know about Peacemaker so far, from the plot and casting details to updates on filming and release dates.
How Many Episodes Is Peacemaker?
Peacemaker will consist of eight episodes, all of which have been written by James Gunn. The titles of the episodes have not been revealed yet. Besides writing the episodes, Gunn is also the director for episodes 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8. And on top of that, he's the showrunner for the spinoff series as a whole.
Is There a Peacemaker Trailer?
We’ve yet to see the trailer for Peacemaker but there is a chance that it’ll be out a little while after The Suicide Squad is released. Right now, the movie is still the big release that everyone’s focusing on. So it seems likely that we’ll have to wait until after it premieres to see teasers or trailers for the spinoff. Watch this space because we’ll be updating it with the trailers as soon as they are released.
When Is the Peacemaker Show Release Date?
While the exact release date of the show hasn’t been announced yet, Peacemaker is currently scheduled to arrive on HBO Max in January 2022. It seems unlikely that the show might get delayed since it has already completed filming. We should be getting a proper date for the series’ premiere once we get closer to the end of 2021. Hopefully, there will be some word on this after The Suicide Squad is released.
Who Is in the Peacemaker Cast?
John Cena’s involvement in the show was the first casting news that was revealed (it is about his character, after all). Besides Cena, there are going to be a few cast members from The Suicide Squad showing up in the series as well. The full main cast of the series includes Cena, Steve Agee, Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, Danielle Brooks, Robert Patrick, and Chukwudi Iwuji.
Lochlyn Munro, Annie Chang, Christopher Heyerdahl, Elizabeth Ludlow, Rizwan Manji, Nhut Le, Alison Araya, and Lenny Jacobson have been announced as recurring cast members for the show. Chris Conrad (Young Hercules, Patriot) was originally part of the main cast but Freddie Stroma replaced him after Conrad left the series.
Who Are the Confirmed Characters in the Peacemaker Series?
The Peacemaker cast is a good mix of villains and vigilantes, actual heroes being a bit of a rarity in this corner of the DCEU. Whether any of them is as messed up as Peacemaker himself is something we’ll have to wait and see, though that seems unlikely.
Steve Agee will be reprising his role as John Economos from The Suicide Squad. Economos is the warden of the Belle Reve Penitentiary and one of Amanda Waller’s (Viola Davis) aides. Agee also worked as a stand-in for King Shark during the filming of the movie, although Sylvester Stallone provided the final voice in the film.
Jennifer Holland will also be reprising her role as Emilia Harcourt. Harcourt is an NSA agent who is also an aide to Waller.
Danielle Brooks will be playing Leota Adebayo. Brooks is best known for playing Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson from Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, a role for which she won multiple awards. Not much is known about her character in the series, but Gunn has teased that her relationship to Peacemaker has a bit of an All in the Family vibe, so we can expect some conflict.
Robert Patrick appears as Auggie Smith, the father of Cena’s Peacemaker. It’s possible that this character is at least partly responsible for Peacemaker being as messed up as he is.
Freddie Stroma will be appearing as Adrian Chase / Vigilante. This character is a bit more familiar for DC fans, though the series may have a new take on him. Vigilante is a district attorney and crimefighter with the power to quickly heal from injuries. A very different version of the character appeared in The CW’s Arrow, played by Josh Segarra.
Chukwudi Iwuji rounds off the main cast, playing Clemson Murn. Murn is a new character created for the show.
Lochlyn Munro and Annie Chang will appear as recurring characters Larry Fitzgibbon and Detective Sophie Song respectively. The pair have been described as partners and friends. Fitzgibbon will reportedly be a “wry and kind character” while Song is a tough and witty cop. It was rumored that Warner Bros. was looking at Maggie Q to play Song before Chang’s casting was announced.
Fun fact: James Gunn adds characters named Fitzgibbon into almost all his projects as a tribute to a close friend of his. There is a Dr. Fitzgibbon in The Suicide Squad played by John Ostrander, the creator of the original Suicide Squad comics. It’s currently unknown whether Munro’s character has any connection to Ostrander’s.
Other characters confirmed for the show include Christopher Heyerdahl as Captain Locke, Elizabeth Ludlow as Keeya, Rizwan Manji as Jamil, and Alison Araya and Lenny Jacobson as married couple Amber and Evan. Nhut Le will also have a recurring role as Judomaster, a character originally published by Charlton Comics before Charlton was acquired by DC.
Last but definitely not least, we have Peacemaker himself. John Cena will be reprising the role from the movie and James Gunn refers to the character as the “world’s biggest douchebag”. How’s that for a character description?
Is Peacemaker Done Filming?
Filming on the series began on January 15, 2021, in Vancouver, Canada. As mentioned above, Gunn has directed the bulk of the show, taking on five out of the eight total episodes that have been announced.
Episode 7 was directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist). Jody Hill (Eastbound and Down) and Rosemary Rodriguez (Silver Skies) are the other directors associated with the project, taking on one episode each.
The show wrapped filming on July 11 after 131 days of production. Gunn gave an update on the editing process during an interview with our own Steve Weintraub for The Suicide Squad.
As of the end of July, Gunn revealed that the editing process is pretty far along:
“The first three are pretty much completely edited. Four and five are coming along. They're a little slower, because they were directed by other people. Six, I just saw the first cut of last night, which I directed, I'm really happy with. And then eight is most of the way edited, and so is seven, which is [directed by] Brad Anderson."
He also revealed during the same interview that the episodes are all roughly 40 minutes long.
Is Peacemaker a Prequel?
This here is a spoiler for those who haven't seen The Suicide Squad yet, but the film's post-credits scene reveals that the Peacemaker series will indeed be a sequel, not a prequel, as we see John Economos and Emilia Harcourt at Peacemaker's bedside saying they need him to save the world. However, Gunn has said the Peacemaker series will delve into the character's origins and we know his father factors into the show, so just because it's a sequel doesn't mean we won't learn more about the character's backstory.
What Is the Plot of the Peacemaker Show?
While specific plot details are under wraps, we do know that Peacemaker will look at how the character became the way he is. In the comics, Christopher Smith was originally introduced as a pacifist diplomat and secret vigilante, back when the character was published by Charlton Comics. He later found out that his violent brand of pacifism was the result of a mental illness brought on by the shame of having a Nazi father. It’s unclear how much of this origin is going to be used in the show.
Gunn told Empire that the series pivots on the conflict between the character’s ruthless tactics and his strict morality.
“Peacemaker has a clear set of ideals that I find really interesting,” he said. “You know: ‘I want peace no matter how many men, women and children I need to kill to get it.’ Sounds like nonsense, but it also makes a lot of sense. And you see in John’s performance how he does not feel good about it – something I thought was the seed of an entire eight-episode show.”
The director revealed to Collider that the series is going to be one large storyline that also gives attention to all its main characters.
"Every character has their own story,” he explained. “So there's the six main characters of Peacemaker, Leota Adebayo, who's Danielle Brooks, Emilia Harcourt, who's Jennifer Holland, Vigilante, who's Freddie Stroma, Clemson Murn, who is Chukwudi Iwuji, and John Economos, who is Steve Agee. It's really an ensemble about those six characters."
Considering everything we know so far about the character and the show, Peacemaker promises to be a proper exploration of the character and his place in the world. And the fact that it will also be a no-holds-barred rollercoaster ride of violence and dark comedy is just the cherry on top. Mark your calendars people, you don’t want to miss this.