Peacemaker | |
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Genre | |
Created by | James Gunn |
Based on | Characters from DC |
Showrunner | James Gunn |
Written by | James Gunn |
Starring | |
Music by | |
Opening theme | "Do Ya Wanna Taste It" by Wig Wam |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Production location | Vancouver, Canada |
Cinematography |
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Editors |
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Running time | 39–47 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | HBO Max |
Release | January 13 – February 17, 2022 |
Network | Max (S2) |
Related | |
Peacemaker is an American superhero television series created by James Gunn for the streaming service HBO Max (later renamed Max), based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The first season is the only DC Extended Universe (DCEU) television series and a spin-off from the 2021 film The Suicide Squad . Set after the events of the film, it further explores jingoistic mercenary Christopher Smith / Peacemaker. It was produced by the Safran Company and Troll Court Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and with Gunn as showrunner. The second season is produced by DC Studios and set in the DC Universe (DCU), a "soft reboot" of the DCEU.
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.
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.
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]
Season | Episodes | Originally released | |||
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First released | Last released | Network | |||
1 | 8 | January 13, 2022 | February 17, 2022 | HBO Max | |
2 | 8 | TBA | TBA | Max |
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "A Whole New Whirled" | James Gunn | James Gunn | January 13, 2022 |
2 | "Best Friends, For Never" | James Gunn | James Gunn | January 13, 2022 |
3 | "Better Goff Dead" | James Gunn | James Gunn | January 13, 2022 |
4 | "The Choad Less Traveled" | Jody Hill | James Gunn | January 20, 2022 |
5 | "Monkey Dory" | Rosemary Rodriguez | James Gunn | January 27, 2022 |
6 | "Murn After Reading" | James Gunn | James Gunn | February 3, 2022 |
7 | "Stop Dragon My Heart Around" | Brad Anderson | James Gunn | February 10, 2022 |
8 | "It's Cow or Never" | James Gunn | James Gunn | February 17, 2022 |
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 ]
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]
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]
Filming for the first season began on January 15, 2021, in Vancouver, Canada, [21] under the working title The Scriptures, [37] with Michael Bonvillain serving as cinematographer. [38] Gunn directed five of the series' episodes, with Jody Hill, Rosemary Rodriguez, and Brad Anderson each directing one. [39] Production lasted 131 days total, and wrapped on July 11. [40] Filming for the second season began in April 2024, taking place simultaneously with production on Superman. [19]
Gunn revealed in June 2021 that Clint Mansell and Kevin Kiner were composing the score for the series, [41] after The Suicide Squad composer John Murphy was busy writing the score for Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). [42] A soundtrack album featuring Mansell and Kiner's score was released on February 18, 2022. [43] The first season also features hair metal songs that Gunn selected and wrote into the scripts. [5] [44]
Season | Home media release dates | ||
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Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |
1 | November 22, 2022 [45] | September 5, 2022 [46] | October 27, 2022 [47] |
Peacemaker premiered on HBO Max on January 13, 2022, [48] with its first three episodes. [49] The series was released in the United Kingdom on March 22, on Sky Max and Now. [50]
Deadline Hollywood reported that each episode of Peacemaker received higher viewership than the last, [51] 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. [52] In the UK, where Peacemaker was not released until after it had finished airing in the U.S., [50] 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 . [53]
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." [54] Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [55]
In January 2021, Gunn said he had ideas for more The Suicide Squad television spin-offs beyond Peacemaker, [63] and confirmed that he was working on another one a year later. [64] 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. [65] 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. [66] 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]
James Francis Gunn Jr. is an American filmmaker and studio executive. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s, starting at Troma Entertainment with Tromeo and Juliet (1997). He then began working as a director, starting with the horror-comedy film Slither (2006), and moving to the superhero genre with Super (2010), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), The Suicide Squad (2021), and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery hired Gunn and Peter Safran to become co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios. Under DC Studios, Gunn will co-produce and executive produce every film and television series under the upcoming DC Universe (DCU) media franchise alongside Safran, which will act as a soft-reboot of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). He will also continue to write and direct various projects set in the DCU, including the upcoming film Superman (2025).
Steven Douglas Agee is an American comedian, actor, writer and musician, known for roles including Steve Myron on the Comedy Central series The Sarah Silverman Program and as John Economos in the DCEU superhero film The Suicide Squad (2021), the streaming television series Peacemaker (2022), and in the film Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). He also served as the on-set stand-in for Nanaue / King Shark.
Peter Safran is a British-American film producer and manager. He currently serves as the co-chairperson and co-CEO of DC Studios alongside James Gunn.
DC Studios is an American film, television, and animation studio that is a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). It is dedicated to the production of films, series, and animations based on characters from DC Comics, among them is their flagship franchise, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). James Gunn and Peter Safran assumed control of the company, on November 1, 2022. Previously, Walter Hamada was the president of DC Films from 2018 until his departure in October 2022.
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that appear in American comic books published by DC Comics. The DCEU also includes comic books, short films, novels, and video games. Like the original DC Universe in comic books, the DCEU is established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.
The Suicide Squad is a 2021 American superhero film based on the DC Comics team Suicide Squad. Produced by DC Films, Atlas Entertainment, and the Safran Company, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a standalone sequel to Suicide Squad (2016) and the 10th film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was written and directed by James Gunn and stars an ensemble cast including Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rooker, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, Alice Braga, and Pete Davidson. In the film, several convicts join a task force known as the "Suicide Squad" in exchange for lighter sentences. They are sent to the South American island nation of Corto Maltese to destroy all traces of the giant alien starfish Starro the Conqueror before it falls into the local government's control.
Blue Beetle is a 2023 American superhero film based on DC Comics featuring the character Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle. Produced by DC Studios and the Safran Company, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the 14th film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, and stars Xolo Maridueña as Reyes alongside Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez. The film focuses on Reyes, a recent college graduate who is bestowed with an armor that grants him superpowers after being accidentally chosen by an ancient alien relic known as the Scarab.
Jennifer Holland is an American actress and model. She is best known for her work as Emilia Harcourt in the DC Extended Universe productions The Suicide Squad (2021), Peacemaker, Black Adam, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). She also appeared as Ashley in the sex comedy film American Pie Presents: The Book of Love (2009).
Christopher "Chris" Smith, also known as the Peacemaker, is a fictional antihero in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and DC Universe (DCU) media franchises, based on the Charlton / DC Comics character of the same name. Adapted for film by writer/director James Gunn, he is portrayed by John Cena. Smith operates as a vigilante who aims to achieve peace at any cost, which results in a 30-year prison sentence at Belle Reve Penitentiary. He is approached by the facility's warden and the director of A.R.G.U.S., Amanda Waller, to join a strike team called Task Force X along with other inmates on an infiltration mission to the remote island of Corto Maltese. After being incapacitated during the mission, he is nursed back to health by A.R.G.U.S. and assigned to accompany a group of their agents for "Project Butterfly".
"A Whole New Whirled" is the series premiere of the American superhero television series Peacemaker, a spin-off from the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. The episode was written and directed by the series creator James Gunn. It originally aired on HBO Max on January 13, 2022, alongside the two follow-up episodes.
"The Choad Less Traveled" is the fourth episode of the American superhero television series Peacemaker, a spin-off from the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. The episode was written by series creator James Gunn and directed by Jody Hill. It originally aired on HBO Max on January 20, 2022.
"Monkey Dory" is the fifth episode of the American superhero television series Peacemaker, a spin-off from the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. The episode was written by series creator James Gunn and directed by Rosemary Rodriguez. It originally aired on HBO Max on January 27, 2022.
The DC Universe (DCU) is an upcoming American media franchise and shared universe based on characters from DC Comics publications. It was created by James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios. The franchise is a soft reboot of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), a previous franchise featuring DC characters. The DCU retains certain DCEU cast members while replacing others. In contrast with the previous state of DC Comics adaptations, the DCU features a united continuity and story across live-action films and television, animation, and video games. Concurrent DC adaptations that do not fit within this continuity are labeled "DC Elseworlds".
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) media franchise has experienced a turbulent history since its inception in 2013, characterized by highly publicized clashes between studio executives and talent, constantly changing approaches to worldbuilding, and repeated changes in management. Warner Bros. Pictures originally announced plans for a shared universe of live-action films based on the DC Comics, starting with the release of Man of Steel (2013), with director Zack Snyder set to spearhead the franchise. Following the negative reception to Snyder's follow-up film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Warner Bros. created DC Films, a new division led by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg tasked with overseeing development of the DCEU. DC Films attempted to correct the course of the franchise, culminating in the troubled production and disastrous release of the crossover film Justice League (2017), which significantly deviated from Snyder's original vision.
Creature Commandos is an upcoming American adult animated television series based on DC Comics featuring the eponymous team. Produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation, it will be the first television series in the DC Universe (DCU) and the first installment overall. It focuses on a black ops team of monsters assembled by Amanda Waller. All seven episodes were written by James Gunn.
The first season of the American superhero television series Peacemaker is based on the DC Comics character of the same name. It is the only television series in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and a spin-off from the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. Set after the events of the film, the season further explores jingoistic mercenary Christopher Smith / Peacemaker. It was produced by the Safran Company and Troll Court Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and with James Gunn as showrunner.
The second season of the American superhero television series Peacemaker is based on the DC Comics character of the same name. It is set in the DC Universe (DCU) and serves as a "soft reboot" of the series, which started as a spin-off from the 2021 DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film The Suicide Squad. The season continues the story of jingoistic mercenary Christopher Smith / Peacemaker. It is produced by DC Studios with James Gunn as showrunner.
"Peacemaker" will be produced by Gunn's Troll Court Entertainment and The Safran Company in association with Warner Bros. Television.