In less than a month, John Cena's eccentric character Peacemaker will return to wreak havoc on HBO Max. With the premiere date approaching fast, the official trailer and several character posters have already been revealed. Now, director James Gunn has confirmed that fans will be able to access three episodes of the much-awaited show on premiere day.
The eight-episode HBO Max spin-off series Peacemaker, with its origins set in Gunn's The Suicide Squad, will follow the journey of Cena's Christopher Smith, who teams up with a bunch of other misfits in his quest for peace. Fans will be able to catch up with their favorite Peacemaker with three episodes streaming on January 13, 2022, and a new episode dropping every week following premiere day.
When a fan asked Gunn on Twitter about the runtime of each episode, the director revealed that “the episodes vary.” All eight episodes were written by Gunn, and he confirms that he did not keep a runtime in mind when writing the script. His goal was to write and edit the episodes at “whatever length [that] best served the story.” However, most of the Peacemaker episodes will be around 45 minutes long.
Many original series have eight episodes per season lately, an observation that another fan made on Twitter. Gunn was quick to clarify why Peacemaker landed on the number eight for its first season. He reveals that the script was written in the first two months of the ongoing pandemic, and eight episodes seemed enough for Gunn to narrate Peacemaker's story. Additionally, he had to ensure that the series was filmed and completed before he went to work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is why he couldn’t make Peacemaker “too long.”
Apart from Cena returning to reprise his The Suicide Squad character, Peacemaker also stars Steve Agee, Danielle Brooks, Robert Patrick, Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, and Chukwudi Iwuji. The series had been filmed in Vancouver, Canada, and Gunn directed five of the episodes. The remaining three were directed by Jody Hill, Rosemary Rodriguez, and Brad Anderson. Exclusive footage from the series was seen as part of HBO Max's sizzle reel, which promotes all the content arriving on the streaming service in 2022.
Peacemaker will stream on HBO Max on January 13, 2022.
Source: James Gunn/Twitter