James Gunn Reveals That Peacemaker’s Giant DC Cameo Was Almost Ruined By a Huge Problem

It’s no secret that Peacemaker, DC’s hit HBO Max TV series, is fully rooted in the world that Superman kicked off this summer. The first episode of the show retconned one of the most famous cameos from Season 1 and inserted the heroes that moviegoers got to know, and made it clear that the DCU was going to be integrated at every step along the way. Last night, the series dropped an even bigger cameo, however, one that fans didn’t see coming. The biggest surprise, though, isn’t the cameo itself; it’s how the character’s appearance was almost ruined by a production problem. Spoilers follow.

About halfway through Peacemaker‘s latest episode, Rick Flag Sr. pays a visit to Belle Reve prison to meet a mysterious prisoner, one who we first see walking down the hall with a cane. As they cross the threshold, we see that the prisoner is, of course, none other than Lex Luthor. Nicholas Hoult reprises the role from this summer’s Superman and makes the DCU immediately feel like a franchise where everything is “can’t miss,” but also you never know what familiar face might show up. That said, Gunn has confirmed that the cameo was almost totally derailed.

Lex Luthor’s Peacemaker Cameo Was the First Scene Shot for the Series

Speaking on Peacemaker The Official Podcast, Gunn offered some insight into the sequence of Hoult’s Lex Luthor appearing on Peacemaker, confirming that it was the first piece of material that was actually shot for the series before production had even fully started.

“This was one of the first scenes we shot,” Gunn revealed. “We shot it in the middle of Superman, while we were shooting the Pentagon sequences in Superman. It was cool, it was weird, because tonally, it instantly felt different from Superman, which is so big and brash, and then this show is, like, so strangely grounded and gritty. And then also hearing Nick curse…”

A sequence from Episode 6 of Peacemaker‘s second season being the first piece of the series actually shot is a surprising one, but in the big picture of the DCU it makes sense. Not only was this episode already going to be directed by James Gunn, but the quickness of the scene means that finding a window of availability for Nicholas Hoult in the Superman schedule to make his appearance wouldn’t require him to return to the filming location after wrapping on the movie. It’s very uncommon for shooting schedules like this to occur, but what this does show is that Gunn and his team at DC are always looking carefully at the big picture of the DCU and how each project feeds into the next one.

Lex Luthor’s Peacemaker Cameo Was Almost Ruined by an Air Conditioning Unit

As revealed by DC Studios’ SVP of physical production, Lars Winther, the Lex Luthor cameo in Peacemaker had to come together fast, and as a result of that, it was almost ruined thanks to a surprising element.

“We had built (the set) on stage, and then we brought it over,” Winther revealed. “And then, of course, we’re in this massive warehouse, and I tell them, ‘Just put it in a corner,’ and they put it right in the middle, right under the loud air conditioning vent, remember?

Gunn quickly snapped with exasperation, “Do I remember?”

Winther continued, revealing that the crew that shot the scene wasn’t the actual crew for the TV series and instead were day players who were paid to get the scene done that day. One of them, a sound guy, noted the issue with the AC unit (described as a “stadium-sized AC unit”) and made the comment that the scene wasn’t going to get shot that day.

“We’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s not going to happen,’” Winther said. “Anyways, it was a bit of a cluster at the beginning of the day, but then we sorted it out.”

Gunn offered another tease of his reaction on the day, adding: “But I was really chill about it,” prompting laughter from the other podcast participants.

“The sound was terrible,” Gun said. “And the sound in post, they had to work out a lot of problems. There were a lot of problems with the sound.”

Luckily for Gunn and the team behind Peacemaker, none of us at home could tell.

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