James Gunn Explains Why John Cena Got The Peacemaker!
2022 seems like a packed calendar for DC as The Peacemaker series is on its way to HBO Max this month, after John Cena’s debut in 2021’s The Suicide Squad film. The writer for Suicide Squad and James Gunn, who is also the director, will be bringing his unique style of filmmaking to the series, directing almost all of the episodes himself, including the premiere which has seen the first reactions online already. The choice to resume Peacemaker’s storyline after The Suicide Squad looked like an easy task for Gunn, despite having introduced many known characters in the DC Comics movie. In a recent interview with Supes, Gunn talked about the Peacemaker story.
James Gunn on John Cena playing the titular role in The Peacemaker:
“Number one, I really got along with John Cena. We became really good friends,” Gunn said when asked why Peacemaker was the character he wanted to work with again. “He’s a funny guy and I thought it would be fun to continue working with him.”
As important as John Cena is to the Peacemaker series, there were plenty of character-related influences which went into deciding which particular character will develop into a spinoff. “I also think that a lot of the other characters we saw in The Suicide Squad, we saw big changes in them,” Gunn pointed out. Ratcatcher-2 changed a lot. Bloodsport changed a lot. Polka-Dot Man changed a lot. Peacemaker kind of remained the unrepentant S.O.B. that he was at the beginning of the movie and I knew that there was a lot deeper to go with the character. John and I had talked about where the character came from, who he was, who his father was, and all these different things that we didn’t get to see in the movie. So, I knew there was a lot more story there to explore.”
DC fans familiar with the character from the comics know that there is a lot more left to the lore of the character than his red costume, big handgun, and helmet that all of us saw in The Suicide Squad.
“You’ll find out some things about Peacemaker’s helmet in the series that you didn’t find out in The Suicide Squad,” Gunn said. “You’ll find out a lot of different things about Peacemaker, what his talents are, what his gifts are but also you’ll find out about his crew.”
When asked if the Peacemaker will roll into another season, Gunn joked, “We’re gonna have 87 seasons of Peacemaker. We’re ready to go!” More seriously, the extended runtime of the series compared to the runtime of The Suicide Squad has Gunn quite enthused for what the audience will see of Cena’s character. “I do think that the TV format, it brings you a lot of freedom that film doesn’t,” he explained. “Film, is so short, you have to keep that plot going from scene to scene. In the Peacemaker show, we were able to take a lot of risks, a lot of chances, explore dramatic elements that we aren’t able to do in a movie, explore comedy in a way that we aren’t, and have incredibly long, incredibly high octane action sequences that take place in every single episode. It really just is everything I love: comedy, drama, action, all in one TV series that doesn’t take itself too seriously but in other ways takes itself very seriously.”
