Director James Gunn has revealed how he determines the length of his upcoming Peacemaker episodes. Gunn is directing The Suicide Squad, which is a soft reboot/sequel of the 2016 Suicide Squad. In the process of trying to revitalize DC’s Task Force X for Warner Bros., he’s introducing new and obscure characters, such as Peacemaker (John Cena). The character that debuted in the comic books in 1966 has been described as a f***ed up superhero and is a rogue vigilante that wants peace at all cost, even if that cost is killing countless “men, women, and children.” Gunn and Warner Bros. clearly believe in Peacemaker, as they are creating a Peacemaker series for HBO Max that is fast approaching completion.
Peacemaker will explore the titular character’s origins, and it stars Cena as Peacemaker, Steve Agee and Jennifer Holland as their respective The Suicide Squad characters, and Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase/Vigilante. Plot details are scarce, as Gunn wants to avoid spoilers for his upcoming DC ensemble film by not sharing if Peacemaker is set after the film’s story or before. However, the show will debut in 2022, and the creator of the eight-episode series has provided various bits of insight into the behind-the-scenes of creating Peacemaker. Now, he’s shared how the length of each episode of the HBO Max series is determined.
Peacemaker will, of course, be for WarnerMedia’s streaming service and not have the burden that can come with airing on network television, and this is evident with Gunn revealing the process of determining runtimes for the episodes. When asked by a fan on Twitter how he determines the length of the episodes, Gunn responded to the tweet by explaining he just tries to make the best episode possible.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Peacemaker stays more in the 30-minute range or if/how much it’ll push towards the hour mark. However, as Gunn mentions, he has the freedom thanks to a streaming service, and shows like WandaVision and The Mandalorian are great examples of flexible runtimes, as they can go up and down by 10 - 15 minutes. Plus, with Peacemaker’s likely aggressive and rated-R content, HBO Max also provides Gunn a platform to freely push the boundaries, as Gunn previously joked that Peacemaker would be “forty seconds long” if edited for broadcast TV.
The Suicide Squad director has, on more than one occasion now, highlighted how much he’s enjoying making Peacemaker and just the television process in general, even hinting that he could stick to television after Guardians of the Galaxy 3. It appears streaming television is where Gunn is happiest, and he’s already planting seeds for his return by making plans for a possible Peacemaker season 2. However, time will tell if a season 2 becomes a reality. First and foremost, The Suicide Squad will have to succeed this August, and then in 2022, Peacemaker will have to follow suit. But we do know the length of each Peacemaker episode is fortunately dictated by making the best episode possible.
Source: James Gunn
