It sounds like we're going to be seeing a lot of Rick Flag Sr. in the DCU over the next few years.
Frank Grillo voiced the character in the recent Creature Commandos animated series, and will make his live-action debut in James Gunn's Superman before returning for the second season of Peacemaker. Now, MTTSH is reporting that Flag will also be a part of the upcoming Waller series.
This wouldn't really be much of a surprise given Flag's close association with Waller, but it does obviously suggest that he will survive the events of Peacemaker season 2 and his run-in with John Cena's Christopher Smith.
Though the project was impacted by the Hollywood strikes, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn recently confirmed that Waller is still moving forward, with Viola Davis set to reprise her role as the DCU's ruthless A.R.G.U.S. chief.
"A live action series, the spinoff of Peacemaker, centered around Amanda Waller and her relationship with her daughter, Leota. If there's one government bureaucrat who shouldn't be messed with, it’s Amanda Waller, founder of the infamous Task Force X, better known as the Suicide Squad," reads Waller's logline.
Official updates have been sparse since Gunn assured fans that the show was still on track late last year, but a recent rumor (via Daniel Richtman) claimed that the series will feature "some elements of Checkmate."
In the comics, Checkmate was an antihero team who first appeared in Action Comics #598 back in the late '80s. In the wake of events depicted in The OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis, the group was re-chartered as a United Nations Security Council-affiliated agency.
There have been numerous members over the years, including Peacemaker, Vigilante, Deadshot, Deathstroke, and Vixen. King Faraday has also worked with Checkmate, and Jeff Sneider is reporting that the character will make his DCU debut in Waller.
Faraday debuted all the way back in the '50s in the first issue of Danger Trail. Much later, during the One Year Later arc, he served as Bishop for Checkmate's White Queen Amanda Waller.
Casting is likely underway ahead of production commencing later this year, so we should start to see announcements coming in fairly soon.
"Peacemaker explores the continuing story of the character that John Cena reprises in the aftermath of executive producer 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!"
Gunn, Peter Safran, and Matt Miller are the series' executive producers. Co-executive producer John Cena and consulting producer Stacy Littlejohn are also involved in the production of the show.
Peacemaker is set to return to our screens later this year.