Peacemaker is one of the few titles from the old DCEU franchise adopted into the new DC Universe continuity, and according to James Gunn, it’s tied into the story tightly, naturally, and seamlessly. Gunn was already the showrunner on Peacemaker when he took the job as co-CEO of DC Studios and began spearheading the entire DCU. All these new responsibilities delayed Peacemaker Season 2, but in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gunn explained that this also allowed Peacemaker to become more connected to the rest of the franchise. The DCU hits the big screen with Superman on July 11th followed closely by Peacemaker Season 2 on August 21st, and Gunn said the two are “very much connected.”
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“Once I was done with Peacemaker, I had to do Guardians 3, and then when I was about ready to jump [back] into Peacemaker, I got hired to be the head of DC,” Gunn explained. “As soon as I got that job, I made a couple of calls, and the first one was to [Marvel’s] Kevin Feige telling him that I’m taking the [job as] head of DC. The second one was to John Cena, and I said, ‘I’m getting this gig, and I still want to do Peacemaker, but it’s going to have to wait. We’re going to have to get Superman working first.’”
Gunn is not only an executive for DC Studios, he’s a driving creative force behind this first batch of DCU titles. He’s the writer and director of Superman, the creator of Creature Commandos, and the showrunner of Peacemaker. He joked that in order to get back to Peacemaker, he just had to “get through this other little movie, this little side project first.” However, working on the two projects back to back also allowed him to forge them together.
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“As soon as I was done writing Superman, I was able to write Season 2 of Peacemaker,” Gunn said. “I know it seems like a long time for other people, but for me it all seems awful short because there was so many things I did in between.” The result is that Gunn was perfectly positioned to see how Peacemaker Season 2 could slot into the continuity and establish itself within the DCU.
“I developed it along the way, in conjunction with the other DC projects that we’re doing, so it’s very much connected to Superman and it’s very much connected to what comes after,” he said. “I had a rough idea of what I was going to do, but it was actually quite different than what the show ended up being.”
At the same time, Gunn assured fans that Peacemaker Season 1 is still very much canon, and it will have an impact on the story to come. The series returns on Thursday, August 21st on HBO Max. Season 1 is streaming there now.
