Peacemaker was a hit when it launched in 2022, and while Christopher Smith was quite easily one of The Suicide Squad's biggest A-Holes, he found redemption and proved himself a hero (of sorts) in his spin-off TV series.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has already confirmed the character will return in a second season following Waller's planned Max debut. However, as a result of last year's Hollywood strikes, we don't anticipate seeing Smith make his DCU debut until late 2025 or early 2026 at the very earliest.
Responding to fans on Threads, the filmmaker confirmed that Peacemaker season 2 is now "over halfway written" and revealed it's the only other project he's working on other than prepping for Superman: Legacy.
This bodes well for the fan-favourite character's return, though it's currently unclear how hands-on Gunn will be with the series. Presumably, he'll be able to helm at least a couple of episodes if shooting doesn't begin until he's done working on the Man of Tomorrow's long-awaited big screen return but we'll have to wait and see.
The DC Studios boss also shared a brief update on the Lanterns TV series saying there's nothing he can publicly say "just yet." With any luck, news is incoming.
"For me, it was just about seeing who Peacemaker was," Gunn told us in 2022 when we asked about how he made one of The Suicide Squad's most despicable characters someone we could root for. "I knew that I loved the guy. I knew that I felt sorry for him and I knew that he was trapped in what would be called toxic masculinity."
"He’s trapped in this world set down by his father that has forced him into being a certain way, but in his heart, he’s an artist. He’s the guy we see at the end of episode six playing the piano. That’s who Peacemaker is, and yet, he’s become something completely different than that."
"He’s a guy whose soul was truly saved by rock ‘n’ roll," Gunn continued. "That was his ultimate form of rebellion, but also his way of maintaining himself and who he is to some slight degree. I think if I loved him, I always figured other people would probably fall in love with him too."
Cena appeared to recently tease Peacemaker season 2 with another of his cryptic Instagram posts. You can check that out below.
Peacemaker explored the origins of the character that John Cena first portrayed in James Gunn's 2021 film, The Suicide Squad - a compellingly vainglorious man who believes in peace at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill to get it.
The series stars John Cena as Peacemaker, Danielle Brooks as Adebayo, Freddie Stroma as Vigilante, Jennifer Holland as Harcourt, Steve Agee as Economos, Chukwudi Iwuji as Murn, and Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith.
Gunn wrote all eight episodes of Peacemaker and directed five, including the first. Gunn, Safran and Matt Miller serve as executive producers on the series, with Cena as co-executive producer. All episodes are now streaming on Max.