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NEED TO KNOW
- James Gunn broke down brother Sean Gunn’s cameo in the Peacemaker season 2 premiere
- Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE, James also explained why only two other members of the Justice Gang — Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl and Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern — made the jump from Superman alongside Sean’s Maxwell Lord
- New episodes of Peacemaker, starring John Cena, stream Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max
James Gunn is breaking down that familial Peacemaker cameo.
Speaking to PEOPLE exclusively at the season 2 premiere of the DCU series at New York City’s AMC Lincoln Theater on Aug. 13, James explains the reasoning he used when deciding to bring his brother Sean Gunn — and a couple more familiar faces from this summer’s blockbuster Superman film — over to the show.
“For this show, it was really about what we needed for the story of Peacemaker,” James, 59, shares.
As fans see in the show’s teaser trailer, John Cena’s Peacemaker auditions to enter the Justice Gang in an interview with Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn) and Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) to a hilarious result.
Warner Bros.
“We have the two Justice Gang members and not Mr. Terrific [Edi Gathegi] because Mr. Terrific is too together and kind of too nice for those three people,” James jokes. “Those 3 people are much meaner, so we needed three people that would pick on Peacemaker in that scene, and that was perfect.”
James, who took over the reins of the DC Universe (DCU) alongside Peter Safran in 2022, also shares why he decided to continue Peacemaker’s story.
“I think the first season of Peacemaker is really about this character coming to terms that he has these demons that have been motivating him, have been pushing him for his entire life,” he says of the first season.
That first season of Peacemaker — following the character’s debut in James’ 2021 film The Suicide Squad — aired in 2022 before James and Safran’s ascension to the heads of the DCU.
Fast-forward more than three years later, and James says he felt there was more story to tell.
“This season is about him actually having to deal with those demons and confront those demons head-on,” he explains of Cena’s character.
As for how the show made the jump from the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) to the new DCU, James says Peacemaker “was never really in any universe” to begin with.
Given that Peacemaker bridges the two iterations of DC characters, James hints that it only took “a couple of minor permutations” to fully close the door on the DCEU and embrace the DCU.
HBO Max
He jokes that by “taking out a couple of screws” and “putting in a couple of new screws” on the show, things are solid — or, as he put it, “all good and dandy” — moving forward.
One such way, of course, is with the Justice Gang cameo on Peacemaker, which further connects the show to Superman — not to mention Cena’s brief appearance in the film.
Peacemaker and Superman are far from the only collaborations between the Gunn brothers.
Sean, 51, famously plays Kraglin Obfonteri in all three of James’ Guardians of the Galaxy films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in 2014, 2017 and 2023.
Charley Gallay/Getty
Sean also appears in a few films directed by James, including 2010’s Super and 2021’s The Suicide Squad.
In addition to DCU projects Superman and Peacemaker, Sean also stars on Creature Commandos, which premiered last year and is written and created by James.
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New episodes of Peacemaker stream on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.
