John Cena’s Peacemaker Series Has A Premiere Date
Get ready for John Cena to go nuts as Peacemaker on HBO Max.
This article is more than 2 years old
We know when to expect Peacemaker to start making that peace, one body at a time. Peacemaker, with John Cena reprising the character he plays in the upcoming The Suicide Squad, begins streaming early next year and now we know when. We also know how many episodes to expect on the premiere date and titles of half of Season 1’s episodes.
Back in February, HBO Max’s content chief Casey Bloys told The Hollywood Reporter to expect a Peacemaker premiere in January 2022. Now we’ve got a specific date. As reported by Midgard Times, the DC Press Portal has revealed that you’ll get to watch John Cena deliver his character’s unique brand of violent justice on Sunday, January 16, 2022. Rather than just a premiere episode, HBO Max will stream the series’ first three episodes on day one. The premiere episode is titled “A Whole New Whirled.” After that comes “Best Friends Never” and “Better Goff Dead.” The following Sunday, episode 4 will continue the punny titles with “Stop Dragon My Heart Around.”
Peacemaker was first announced last September as an eight-episode series written by James Gunn who wrote and directed The Suicide Squad. While we know the upcoming series promises to explore the origins of John Cena’s character, plot details have been scarce, including the question of whether or not Peacemaker takes place before the events of The Suicide Squad.
We do know some of the names to expect behind and in front of the camera, however. In July, Collider reported that Gunn will be directing five of the eight episodes, along with naming the directors for the remaining three: Jody Hill, Brad Anderson, and Rosemary Rodriguez. We also know to expect three of John Cena’s The Suicide Squad co-stars to reprise their respective roles for Peacemaker. Steve Agee will play John Economos, Jennifer Holland as NSA Agent Emilia Harcourt, and Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase, aka Vigilante. Chris Conrad was originally cast in the role of Chase, but in May Deadline revealed Conrad had been replaced with no specific reason given for the change.
John Cena’s other Peacemaker co-stars include Robert Patrick as the titular anti-hero’s father Auggie Smith, Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Chukwudi Iwuji as Clemson Murn, Annie Chang as Detective Sophie Song, and Nhut Le as the superhero Judomaster.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly earlier this month, Gunn called working on Peacemaker “a complete joy,” in spite of the complications presented by filming a TV series during a pandemic. John Cena added that, in spite of what’s already expected to be a bloody film, Peacemaker “turns up the volume on anything you see in The Suicide Squad.”
First appearing in 1966’s Fightin’ 5 #40, Peacemaker has rarely been a major player in DC’s comics. Before his inclusion in the upcoming The Suicide Squad, his biggest claim to fame was as the inspiration for the doomed hero The Comedian in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ game-changing graphic novel Watchmen. His appearance in the upcoming movie and TV series has boosted his comic book popularity, however, and this year DC released a new volume of Suicide Squad with Peacemaker leading Amanda Waller’s captive super-crooks.
