Peacemaker: James Gunn Explains Why Opening Shows Deleted The Suicide Squad Scene

DC's Peacemaker TV series premiered its first three episodes on HBO Max this week, and it is certainly is an extension of writer/director James Gunn's The Suicide Squad movie – in all its off-beat, hyper-violent, kitschy weird, feel-good glory. In case fans needed a reminder, Peacemaker opens up with a TV-style recap of what happened "Previously, on The Suicide Squad." However, DC fans who were paying close attention noticed that Peacemaker's recap of The Suicide Squad included one important piece of character development we didn't get from the film, and now James Gunn is explaining why! 

(WARNING: Peacemaker Episode 1 SPOILERS Follow!) 

The end of Peacemaker's recap of The Suicide Squad showed the fallout at A.R.G.U.S. when Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) recovers from her subordinates' mutiny after one of her agents knocked her out in order to assist Task Force X. In the final montage of the film, we see agents John Economos (Steve Agee) and Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) back working at their stations, while Waller ices her head, eyeing them suspiciously; Peacemaker adds more perspective to this same scene, revealing that while Economos and Harcourt are under scrutiny, their co-worker Flo Crawley (Tinashe Kajese) – the one who actually knocked Waller out and led the mutiny – is forcibly arrested at her desk. 

During ComicBook.com's Peacemaker Watch Party (#peacemakerparty), James Gunn explained that: "This scene with Flo Crawley was cut from The Suicide Squad but explains that she actually goes to prison which is why she isn't a part of the team."

It makes sense why Gunn cut and moved this particular scene: it was an unnecessary detail of The Suicide Squad's epilogue to show Waller re-taking control of her shop (film audiences prefer that villains end on a loss); however, it's a necessary detail to the opening of Peacemaker to note how Waller re-establishes order – and also why one Suicide Squad cast member could make the (budget) cut for Peacemaker. 

In DC Comics lore, Flo Crawley is more than just Amanda Waller's mission coordinator and tech geek – she's her cousin. That relationship wasn't stressed in The Suicide Squad, but it wouldn't be above Waller to have kept it under wraps and pulled the hardcore move of arresting her own kin; after all, Peacemaker's premiere also revealed that Danielle Brooks' character "Leota Adebayo" is actually Amanda Waller's daughter, who's been embedded in Peacemaker's team. So you never know... 

Peacemaker is streaming on HBO Max.