Peacemaker: James Gunn Says John Cena HBO Max Series is “Quieter” Than The Suicide Squad

DC fans are now finally getting to see James Gunn’s vision for The Suicide Squad, and with it their full introduction to Peacemaker, played by John Cena. Cena will be reprising his Peacemaker role in a new series for HBO Max, and director James Gunn is also hands-on with the project. That means the quality and comedic timing fans loved about The Suicide Squad should remain intact in Peacemaker’s spinoff series, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be exactly the same. In a new interview with THR, Gunn compared the two projects and said that Peacemaker will be a bit quieter than its big-screen counterpart.

“There are a lot of similarities to The Suicide Squad in that it’s no holds barred, but there are also a lot of things that are very different, in that it’s quieter in some ways. It’s very specifically about a different group of people, so it’s a little bit more about society. One of the leads is Peacemaker and one of the leads is Danielle Brooks, who plays Leota Adebayo. And she has a very different political view of the world than Peacemaker does,” Gunn said.

“So it’s just a little bit about what’s going on in the world, but also being a TV show, you really do have more time to delve much deeper into these characters and much more deeply into the drama and comedy of them. So it has a lot of similarities, but it’s even more grounded, more natural and more real. But it’s still within a big science-fiction storyline that lasts for one season. The main storyline lasts for that season, so that doesn’t mean there’s only one season of Peacemaker,” Gunn said.

Cena recently commented on maintaining the quality from the film, telling ComicBook.com “Well, you have the same writer, the same creator. James directed a lot of episodes, and certainly, he’s involved heavily with production. So I think if you like what you see in The Suicide Squad, you’re going to be able to lean into more of those moments on HBO Max with Peacemaker.”

We can’t wait to see what Gunn and Cena have cooked up for Peacemaker, and here’s hoping we end up with multiple seasons of the spinoff series down the road.

The Suicide Squad is available to stream now on HBO Max and hits theaters on August 6th, while Cena’s Peacemaker series hits HBO Max early next year.