According to James Gunn, if HBO Max's Peacemaker series were to be edited for network television, it would be 40 seconds long. Next year, Gunn will make the jump from Marvel to DC with The Suicide Squad, a semi-sequel, semi-reboot of the anti-hero property. This time around, a new Task Force X will team up for a daring mission, and fans already have an idea of which characters to keep an eye on. In September, news broke that John Cena's Peacemaker, one of the newcomers within The Suicide Squad, will star in his own HBO Max spin-off. Gunn will serve as writer and director on the show.
Plot details for Peacemaker are still being kept under wraps, largely because of spoilers about the character's survival in The Suicide Squad. However, the series is expected to explore Peacemaker's origins, and it will even feature additional Suicide Squad characters. Along with Cena, Peacemaker will star Danielle Brooks, Chris Conrad, Robert Patrick, Jennifer Holland, and Steve Agee. Gunn began his mandatory quarantine last month ahead of filming kicking off.
Never one to shy away from debunking rumors, today Gunn confronted a false report that said Peacemaker will score a broadcast run on the CW upon its release. Seeing as the CW has to adhere to network content standards, this means Peacemaker would have to be edited considerably. Gunn was quick to shut down this report, writing, "Lol. No. If we edited it for broadcast TV it would be forty seconds long." That's not much of a show.
The Suicide Squad has yet to receive an official MPAA rating, but all signs point to it being rated R. If that's the case, then it would make sense for Peacemaker to be much of the same. This isn't really a surprise, seeing as the first promotional image for the film outright says "F#CK!" It sounds like fans can expect a lot of cursing and violence from Peacemaker, which also falls in line with what's known about Cena's helmeted character. Described as a douchey Captain America, Peacemaker is someone who will achieve peace at any costs, even if it results in murder.
With a series as probably profane as Peacemaker, there's no chance it will ever air on a typical network. This is clearly a series destined to make the most of its streaming platform, which so far looks to fit in well with the universe established in The Suicide Squad. Considering the positive responses R-rated superhero movies like Deadpool and Birds of Prey have received, this so far bodes well for both The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. It sounds like Gunn and Cena are planning to go all in on Peacemaker, and fans couldn't be more excited.
Source: James Gunn/Twitter
