Much like how Matt Reeves is using the Colin Farrell-led Penguin series and the yet-to-be-titled Arkham series to expand the DC continuity he kicked off with The Batman, James Gunn is craving out his own Suicide Squad-centric corner of the DC Extended Universe. Six months after The Suicide Squad dropped in both theaters and for an initial one-month period on HBO Max, John Cena’s Peacemaker spinoff series premiered on the streaming service. Now it looks like Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller will be the next Suicide Squad character to star in her own show.
Along with coming back to write and direct all of Peacemaker Season 2’s episodes, James Gunn teased last October that he’s working on another DC project. He then clarified in January that this would be another show connected to The Suicide Squad, but it “won’t be as much a comedy as Peacemaker.” Well, according to Variety, Viola Davis is in talks to reprise Amanda Waller for her own series that will be accessible to HBO Max subscribers just like Peacemaker, she would also executive produce. Watchmen’s Christal Henry will write and executive produce the project, and James Gunn and Peter Safran are also attached as executive producers.
Assuming this Amanda Waller series is indeed getting underway, it will mark Viola Davis’ latest venture into the TV realm. She previously starred as Annalise Keating in How to Get Away with Murder, a role that earned her an Emmy in 2015 (and nominations for year afterwards), and she reprised for an episode of fellow ABC series Scandal. Davis also executive produced the currently-airing Showtime series The First Lady, which sees her appearing in a few episodes as Amanda Waller. As far as the DCEU goes, along with debuting as Amanda Waller in 2016’s Suicide Squad and returning for The Suicide Squad five years later, Davis cameoed in Peacemaker Season 1’s premiere and finale, and the latter episode threw Waller a major curveball.
One of the members of Project Butterfly in Peacemaker Season 1 was Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo, who was revealed at the end of the premiere to be Amanda Waller’s daughter. Waller tasked Leota with keeping an eye on John Cena’s Christopher Smith and later had her plant incriminating evidence about him so he’d be thrown back behind bars. However, following the defeat of the Butterflies (parasitic-like alien creatures that took control of human bodies), Leota went to the press in the Peacemaker Season 1 finale to expose Project Butterfly, Task Force X (a.k.a. the Suicide Squad) and Waller’s role in all of it as A.R.G.U.S. director to the public. So while we don’t know any specific story details for Waller’s spinoff show yet, it will explore the aftermath of the figurative bombshell dropped on her by her daughter.
CinemaBlend will share any other major developments about this Amanda Waller spinoff series once they trickle in. Until then, keep track of what else is coming up in the DCEU by looking through our guide of upcoming DC movies.
