Peacemaker is the 2022 HBO Max live-action TV series spinning off from the Warner Bros/DC film The Suicide Squad, and based on the DC Comics character of the same name.
John Cena is reprises his role as the warped hero who is so committed to peace he uses an advanced array of weapons to enforce it. The eight-episode TV series follows the events the movie, putting the titular hero on a new mission under the command of an off-shoot agency called Project Butterfly. Peacemaker (aka Chris Smith) is recruited by Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) onto the new team with a mission to assassinate targets mysteriously designated as, "butterflies." The core team also includes Jennifer Holland as Harcourt, Steve Agee as Economos (both of whom appeared in the feature film) and Danielle Brooks as Adebayo. Inviting himself onto the team is Smith's emotionally unstable crime-fighting ally Vigilante (Freddie Stroma).
Also among the cast are Nhut Le as Judomaster, Robert Patrick (Terminator 2) as Auggie Smith (Peacmaker's abusive father), Annie Chang, Lochlyn Munro, Christopher Heyerdahl, Elizabeth Faith Ludlow and Rizwan Manji.
James Gunn, who wrote and directed the feature, wrote and directed all episodes of the series. Gunn is a producer, along with Peter Safran. Cena is executive producer, along with Matt Miller (The 100).
The eight-episode season one of series debuted on HBO Max January 13, 2022 with three episodes and followed a weekly cadence after that. The show proved a hit with fans and critics. The show offered a surprisingly nuanced look at a character that was essentially introduced as a villain. It also contained rich emotional depth for a show that is largely characterized as a comedy.
Season one scored so well audiences that HBO Max announced season two the day before the finale of season one became available. The announcement confirmed that Gunn would write and direct every episode of the second season as he did with the first.
