Even before James Gunn was hired to co-run DC Studios with Peter Safran, he was carving out a comfortable space for himself in the DC Comics media space. After being hired to write and direct 2021’s The Suicide Squad, he then delivered the spinoff series Peacemaker in 2022. Now the latter is about to begin airing on the 2025 TV schedule, but unlike last time, Gunn did not direct all of Season 2’s episodes. He’s now explained why he helmed certain episodes of this entry that’s soon disappearing from the upcoming DC shows slate and not others.
During the Peacemaker Season 2 junket that CinemaBlend attended, our own Hannah Saulic asked James Gunn how he decided which episodes to direct this time around, as well as if it harder when he was in the process to separate it than he thought it would be Gunn, who is confirmed to have helmed the first, sixth and eighth episodes of this new season for fans with an HBO Max subscription, started off by saying:
Yeah, it was. I will tell you, with Episodes 2 and 3, it was very easy. Greg Mottola is a guy who's actually been a hero to me for a long time, since I saw his movie ‘The Daytrippers’ when I was younger. And I was like, ‘This movie's amazing.’ And so Greg is the best collaborator of all time. And he understood the show. He totally understood the show. He understood the dramatic part of the show. He understood the comedic part of the show. He understood the non-showiness of shooting the show. But it's not always that easy.
Greg Mottola directed Peacemaker’s Season 2’s second and third episodes, while Peter Sollett directed Episode 4 and the directors of Episodes 5 and 7 haven’t been revealed yet. As far as Mottola is concerned, James Gunn was not worried in the slightest about handing that portion of the directing workload off to the man who also helmed Superbad and Keeping Up with the Joneses. Clearly Gunn had a great time working with Mottola given how easily he understood the show’s many facets.
That being said, there was just no way for James Gunn to direct all of Peacemaker Season 2’s episodes given his duties as the creative head of DC Studios, so he had to decide which of them needed his own personal touch. As he explained:
So it can be a little bit difficult at times to turn it over. I originally planned to shoot all the episodes, but then I got hired as the head of the studio and couldn't do that. So it was hard, but I took the three that I thought were the most difficult. You'll see six and eight are my two favorite episodes of the season.
Gunn neglected to mention that in addition to his overall DC Studios work, he was also directing Superman at the same time Peacemaker Season 2 was filming. So that added an extra layer of difficulty with him being able to be as involved compared to in Season 1. However, deciding to direct the sixth and eight episodes wasn’t a hard to decision for Gunn at all, as he laid out:
But 6, there's a very, very long, dramatic scene in it that's incredibly difficult. And then 8 is enormous. So I just had to choose the ones I wanted to do the most. That I thought needed me the most.
James Gunn still wrote all of Peacemaker Season 2’s episodes, so fans needn’t worry about his unique voice not coming through throughout the entirety of the season. Along with John Cena of course reprising Christopher Smith, Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee and Robert Patrick reprise their series regular roles in Season 2. They’re joined by Frank Grillo, Sol Rodríguez, Tim Meadows and Michael Rooker, among others.
Peacemaker Season 2 begins tomorrow on HBO Max, and keep visiting CinemaBlend for regular coverage as it airs weekly. You’d also be wise to refresh yourself on the events of Superman, as the new Peacemaker season ties into this 2025 movie release.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
