James Gunn Reveals How Many Peacemaker Spin-Offs He’s Making
That's more than we thought.
We already knew James Gunn wasn’t done with Peacemaker. News that the series had been renewed for a second season by HBO Max came swiftly, and it wasn’t too long after that word started to leak that Marvel’s own Guardians of the Galaxy brainchild was working for the “distinguished competition” on even more spin-offs. But exactly how many spin-offs is Gunn working on? Well, he’s finally spilled the beans.
This week in response to the filmmaker’s tweet about this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, another user posted a clip from an interview. In the clip, James Gunn says, “We actually are working on a few different shows. I’m working on like three new shows now with HBO Max network in various phases of development, but you know, the heart and soul is of course Peacemaker.” You can watch the clip below.
So, there you have it from the proverbial horse’s mouth. James Gunn is working on three shows, not counting Peacemaker which is, in Gunn’s words, “the heart and soul.” The implication seems to be all three series will either be spin-offs of Peacemaker and/or The Suicide Squad; or at the very least all the series will share the same overall narrative universe. So which three series will they be?
Speculation and rumors are bound to run wild in the wake of this reveal, and it’s the kind of speculation the filmmaker loves to feed. James Gunn has been dropping hints ever since the conclusion of Peacemaker‘s inaugural season of other potentially related projects. For example, in May Gunn tweeted a shot of Idris Elba as Bloodsport traversing the wrecked Corto Maltese toward the end of last year’s The Suicide Squad with the accompanying note, “Supervillain walks alone.” The tweet led to speculation that Gunn was either teasing a Bloodsport solo project or perhaps Elba’s return for a sequel. You can see the tweet below.
The following month came an even more interesting tweet. James Gunn tweeted a shot of a character who, unlike Peacemaker and Bloodsport, didn’t survive the events of The Suicide Squad. The tweet was a shot of Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, in his Jotunheim lab. Gunn’s accompanying note reads, “I can’t wait to tell you all the big plans we currently have in play…” You can see that teasing tweet below.
Perhaps the most intriguing report so far comes not from James Gunn’s Peacemaker related tweets, but from Variety.. The site reported in May that Viola Davis was in talks to reprise her role as Amanda “The Wall” Waller — the head of Task Force X — in a spin-off HBO Max series. Even in David Ayer’s critically panned Suicide Squad from 2016, Davis’ portrayal of Waller was often noted as one of the bright spots. Ruthless, fearless, and as committed to her morally bankrupt role in the world of superheroes and supervillains as any Kryptonians or Gotham orphans, Amanda Waller has consistently been one of the DC Comics’ most interesting characters since her inception. Not to mention that a solo Amanda Waller series would likely mean episodes in which she sends out more Task Force X squads, which in turn would mean more chances to see DC supervillains brought to live-action.
