James Gunn surprised everybody when he signed on to make The Suicide Squad for DC, and even with filming concluded, many are still unsure what to make of the idea. But some newly released set photos from Peacemaker, Gunn's own spinoff series of The Suicide Squad focusing on John Cena's character, seem to indicate that the cast members of the upcoming show are having the time of their lives.
On Thursday, Gunn tweeted out a set of behind-the-scenes pictures from the production of Peacemaker. While not much was revealed in terms of the show's story or premise, the cast members in the photos were all smiles in front of what appears to be a trailer of sorts. Based on the star-spangled color scheme, the trailer likely belongs to Cena's Peacemaker himself. A vigilante living in a trailer park certainly seems like something Gunn would enjoy directing, and it would go well with how he fully intends for Peacemaker to be an uncensored show, but that's just speculation at this point.
Aside from Gunn and Cena, the pictures also include fellow cast members Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, Chris Conrad, and Chukwudi Iwuji. A follow-up tweet gives a shout-out to Robert Patrick as well, who will also star in the series but was not present for the pictures. It's certainly an eclectic group, and they seem to be having a blast.
Agee will return as prison warden John Economos, whom he also plays in The Suicide Squad. Also returning is Holland as NSA Agent and aide to Amanda Waller, Emilia Harcourt. Aside from the returning roles, new characters include Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Conrad as The Vigilante/Adrian Chase (recently seen on The CW's Arrow shortly before the series ended), Iwuji as Clemson Murn, and Patrick as Auggie Smith, Peacemaker's father. The series is set to be only 8 episodes long, but it certainly seems as though everyone involved in the project is making the most of it.
Peacemaker came along shortly after Gunn finished shooting The Suicide Squad when Warner Bros. asked the director if he wanted to help fill out their HBO Max library with a spinoff of his choice. This seems to have been a trend between Warner Bros. and Gunn, starting when they brought him into the fold during his short-lived firing from Marvel due to distasteful tweets that had been uncovered from a decade prior. While much of the outrage was deemed overblown by the general public and Gunn eventually came back to keep directing the Guardians of the Galaxy films (the third of which begins shooting later this year), he clearly had no intentions of taking a break during his short time away.
Some may dispute the hiring of Gunn for the DC films and the rehiring by Marvel, while others see the firing as bad faith arguments in the first place that targeted his politics over anything else. But whatever the case may be, it certainly resulted in a rich future for fans of Gunn's unique style of filmmaking.
Peacemaker is set to release on HBO Max in January 2022, following the premiere of The Suicide Squad in theaters and also on HBO Max on August 6, 2021.
Source: James Gunn/Twitter