'Peacemaker' Is Coming Back For a Vulgar, Violent, Hilarious Season 2

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The following story contains spoilers for Peacemaker Season 1 on HBO Max.

Two years ago, most people had never even heard of "Peacemaker," a lower-tier DC Comics character who was probably best known among pop culture fans as the main influence for The Comedian in Alan Moore's transcendent graphic novel Watchmen. Today, though, HBO Max's Peacemaker is one of the biggest—and best—shows on TV, elevated through some brilliant writing from James Gunn and a perfect star turn from John Cena.

After introducing the character in The Suicide Squad, James Gunn decided to continue the story of Christopher Smith, known as Peacemaker. He wrote the series—envisioning, essentially, a full story arc in 8 episodes—during quarantine. "Normally I would have been taking more of a break in this space but it’s COVID, I’m stuck at home, so I wrote a TV series," he said in September 2020.

Obviously, Gunn is a busy man; the time when he wrote this first season of Peacemaker is time he had between his first job with DC (The Suicide Squad) and perhaps his final with Marvel (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which he's said will be the last with this group of characters). Does he even have time to do another season of Peacemaker? The answer, we now know, is a resounding yes.

It took a minute to get there, but Gunn just wanted to be entirely sure that another season of Peacemaker was something that he and Cena both really wanted to do. "John and I did not agree to a second season off the bat because we wanted to make sure this is something we really love doing, that we really wanted," he told Variety. "That’s why it’s being announced now, because we had to work everything out. I didn’t agree to a second season just off the bat. It wasn’t a matter of like, okay, we’re picked up. It’s a matter of... I just wanted to make sure it was really something I wanted to do."

Now that Season 1 of Peacemaker is complete—and we got to see those hilarious cameos—it's time to start thinking about Season 2. Those of us watching have appreciated Chris/Peacemaker's journey, and the writing and performances are certainly good enough to fuel more seasons. And in the meantime, maybe we'll just watch that opening dance sequence over and over again 100 or so more times.

Will there be a Season 2 of Peacemaker?

Hell yes there will be. As Peacemaker himself says, "There's no wrong time to rock," and that time will continue this story into Season 2.

HBO Max officially announced Peacemaker's renewal on February 16, 2022, a day before the Season 1 finale aired on February 17. "Creating Peacemaker has been one of the true highlights of my life, both professionally and otherwise, with John Cena and the incredible creative team around me, as well as our partners at HBO Max," Gunn said in a statement from HBO Max. "To have something we all love so much be loved by the audience in turn has been a wonderful experience. I can’t wait for folks to see where Team Peacemaker goes in Season Two! "

Gunn said in the past that he had ideas for a potential Season 2 ("Saving someone for season two," he said in a Tweet last year when asked if there were any characters he had to reluctantly cut out of his Peacemaker story), but later clarified that it didn't necessarily mean it was for sure happening, or that anyone was signed on.

"Just because I have characters in mind for Season 2 doesn’t mean either HBOMax or John & I have committed to it yet," he wrote.

What would Season 2 of Peacemaker be about?

Gunn said that he's still ironing out the details, but he likes to focus not as much on the plot at first, but the character. So he already knows where Peacemaker will start and end in Season 2. "The most important thing for me in the first season was who Peacemaker was and where was he going—what was his personal journey? The Butterflies and the plot and all of that is secondary to who he was as a character and what his changes were, as well as the other characters and where they began and where they end, because they all have little changes for themselves—with the exception of Vigilante, who’s sort of a straight line the whole time," Gunn told Variety. "So I know where Peacemaker starts and where he ends, but I’m playing with other ideas around that and how that’s gonna play out."

Who would be in the cast?

Obviously, there's no Peacemaker without John Cena as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker. Freddie Stroma has also been a (hilarious!) fan favorite revelation as Adrian Chase/Vigilante, and Danielle Brooks, Steve Agee, and Jennifer Holland have all proven to have great chemistry with Cena and one another—all of these seem vital to the continuation of Peacemaker. However, there's always the possibility that Season 2 just moves our titular hero to an entirely new setting with an entirely new group of characters around him. Crazier things have happened!

One character we can probably definitively say goodbye to, though, is team leader/butterfly Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), who was killed off in Episode 7 of the series, and it's hard to picture a scenario where he returns. Auggie Smith/White Dragon (Robert Patrick) was also killed off in Episode 7 of Peacemaker, but based on the finale it seems like he may have staked out some real estate in Peacemaker's head. So we could see some more father-son conversations, Dexter-style, in Season 2.

Gunn's The Suicide Squad universe will continue in another spin-off as well.

There's already word that Gunn's world established in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker will continue in another form. "We're working on something else now, another TV show that's connected to that universe." Gunn said. "I can't say anything. It is connected to this universe, and I don't think it will be the same genre as Peacemaker. It won't be as much a comedy as Peacemaker."

There's also rumors that Holland's Emilia Harcourt will appear alongside The Rock in Black Adam, due out later in 2022—so this group of characters seems to be expanding its footprint.

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