It’s quite hard to imagine, but until Peacemaker came about, James Gunn had never written a script for television before. Most known for his massive-hit films such as Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy, his HBO Max series was a bit more foreign territory to him, but it appears Peacemaker and his co-horts may not done with the DC universe yet.
The glowing success of HBO Max's Peacemaker proved that Gunn was once again the supreme storyteller that he has established himself to be throughout his career. Peacemaker is a spin-off series based off of Gunn's The Suicide Squad, or more specifically, focusing on John Cena's character.
Gunn recently guest-starred on an episode of The Hollywood Reporter's "TVs' Top 5” podcast, where he opened up about his concerns and vision in regard to creating Peacemaker. The director has worked in both the Marvel and DC realms, and he expressed his gratitude for being able to have had more control over his script. Gunn expressed that he has no desire to sacrifice his narrative for the sake of maintaining a connection to the larger universe it is based in. He stated, “In two Guardians movies, I was never asked to connect to a bigger picture. The same with DC movies. I don’t have a big interest in doing that. I want my story to be the prime thing. Anyway a larger story helps enhance my story, great, but if that note came - I’d ignore it.”
Gunn also has hinted that a Peacemaker character could in fact appear in future DC projects, despite his hesitation to bridge that gap. "Peacemaker is part of the DCU, I mean they can use these characters. I mean one of these characters is used in a future big DC movie that’s from here, so we are connected to all of this. Who knows what role these characters are going to play in the future?" Gunn clarified. "I mean no one knew who the Guardians of the Galaxy were, and then all of a sudden, they’re massive players in Infinity War and Endgame. So who knows what’s going to happen with Peacemaker in ten years, five years, or whatever?"
Cena's Peacemaker character is deeply ingrained and connected to the DCU, especially given his roots with The Suicide Squad. In Peacemaker, Gunn was able to really delve deeply into Cena’s character's more vulnerable side, fulfilling his need for seeing his story all the way through. However, fans seem to have gotten the idea from Gunn's more laser focus on Cena’s character that Peacemaker is in some way more detached from the DCU because of that.
Peacemaker is now available on HBO Max.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter