James Gunn describes Peacemaker as both a prequel and sequel to The Suicide Squad movie just released. Gunn talked in quite a bit of detail about the upcoming HBO Max show. As such, I have to warn you against some SPOILERS for The Suicide Squad if you have not seen the movie yet. If you have not yet managed to catch The Suicide Squad, maybe go see it and then come back and read this afterwards? Gunn’s comments come from an extensive interview the director did with Variety recently.
**Potential The Suicide Squad SPOILERS Ahead**
Prior to seeing The Suicide Squad in theatres, and at the end credits of the movie, I thought the Peacemaker show would be a prequel. After all, we just saw Peacemaker die at the hands of Bloodsport to protect Ratcatcher 2. Then of course in the post-credit scene Gunn shows us that Peacemaker is still alive and needed for some new job. I then immediately figured Peacemaker was a sequel rather than a prequel. However Gunn tells Variety it’s both.
“Well, through the story, you learn where Peacemaker came from. There’s a moment in the movie where Bloodsport talks about his father and what his father was like, and you cut to a shot of Peacemaker, and Peacemaker nods. That’s the seed of the entire “Peacemaker” series. So we get to see Peacemaker with his father, who’s played by Robert Patrick, where he came from, what he’s done, what that means to him, and where he’s going after all of this. Because he’s not an evil person, he’s just a bad guy. He seems sort of irredeemable in the film. But I think that there’s more to him. We didn’t get a chance to know him [in “The Suicide Squad”] in the way we get to know some of the other characters. And so that’s what the whole show is about. I needed eight episodes to do it, at least.”
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Asked if the show will be about Peacemaker dealing with the consequences of his decisions in the movie?
“Not the consequences. But Peacemaker feels like he’s on the outside. So that moment in [the bar] La Gatita Amable, when he’s dancing with [the team], and they’re becoming connected to each other for the first time — that is an unusual feeling for him. And then when he goes with his ideals over that sense of connection — his weird ideals, admittedly — he’s making that choice over his own emotions. The show is about that.”
Interesting for sure. I also felt like Peacemaker was the least developed character of the core team in The Suicide Squad. I never considered this was because there is more to tell in the show. If anything I was thinking that I’d rather see a show about King Shark and Ratcatcher 2 making their way in the World. Perhaps this was then a considered choice by Gunn, or it was the fact he didn’t have time to explore Peacemaker more that spawned the idea of the series in his head?
As a fan of Gunn, I enjoyed The Suicide Squad, though not quite as much as the first, or second Guardians movies. However, hey that’s just my personal preference and I really did enjoy this movie. I will no doubt be tuning in where possible for Peacemaker when it hits.
What do you think of his comments as James Gunn describes Peacemaker as both a prequel and sequel to The Suicide Squad? sound off below.
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