Peacemaker has a ‘good chance’ of getting a second season on HBO Max
Peacemaker showrunner James Gunn has revealed that there’s a “really good chance” that the superhero show will get a second season.
Speaking on Deadline’s Hero Nation podcast, The Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad director believes that it’s only a matter of time before the John Cena-starring spin-off series is renewed for HBO Max.
Asked if he thought Peacemaker season 2 would be greenlit, Gunn replied: “There’s a really good chance of that. We’re the biggest show in the world right now. The show is doing extraordinarily well, and we’re excited, we all like doing it, we just need to cross some Ts and dot some Is, which is basically me.”
“A really good chance” is putting it mildly. According to data sent to TechRadar by global audience demand firm Parrot Analytics, Peacemaker was the most in-demand TV show on all streaming platforms as of January 22.
Per the firm’s latest figures, Peacemaker was 69.5 times more in-demand than the average TV show, overtaking the likes of The Witcher on Netflix and The Book of Boba Fett on Disney Plus. For context, The Witcher season was 67.7 times more in-demand compared to the average TV series, while Boba Fett’s small screen adventure was 66 times more popular than the average show.
It’s unclear when Peacemaker season 2 would begin filming if WarnerMedia and AT&T renew the show for another outing. For now, though, there are three more Peacemaker episodes yet to be released, including the season 1 finale on February 17. So fans of Cena’s Christopher Smith will have more content to consume in the meantime.
Analysis: Launching a superhero show at the right time
(Image credit: HBO Max)
It’s unsurprising that Peacemaker has performed really well on HBO Max.
For one, John Cena’s charismatic, humorous and emotionally resonant anti-hero is hugely relatable. Yes, he’s a cocky, brash individual on the surface – subtextually, though, he’s a complicated character with his own issues and pent-up trauma. That means viewers will empathise with him, regardless of his sometimes abrasive and ‘act first, think later’ persona. The show’s sparkling supporting cast, too, have been another major positive as to why Peacemaker season 1 has been well received by audiences.
But the DCEU series’ early 2022 release date has been its biggest plus point. Releasing The Suicide Squad spin-off on January 13 has proven to be a masterstroke, with little in the way of competition from other streaming shows, superhero-centric or otherwise.
Sure, there hasn’t been a complete dearth of great shows to watch. Netflix continues to pump out excellent content including Ozark Season 4 and Archive 81. Meanwhile, Prime Video subscribers have had As We See It to enjoy, with other eagerly anticipated TV series like The Legend of Vox Machina releasing before the month ends.
But some of those shows, including Vox Machina, will have pretty niche audiences. Others, like Archive 81, have also become popular by word of mouth.
By contrast, Peacemaker was already established as a character, with Cena having starred in The Suicide Squad in summer 2021. Add in the fact that Gunn – whose Guardians movies have been a breath of fresh air in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) – is the show’s head writer and primary director, and Peacemaker already had a leg up on the competition.
Speaking of Marvel, Peacemaker will have benefitted hugely from a lack of new MCU content this early in the year, too. By the time Moon Knight lands on Disney Plus, there’ll have been a three-month gap between Marvel Studios’ last production and its next one. With no MCU movies or TV shows to compete with, then, Peacemaker has had free rein in the wildly popular and money-spinning superhero market.
In short, releasing Peacemaker so early in the year was the right move – for HBO Max, for Gunn and Cena, and for the show’s future. So expect to see more adventures starring Peacemaker and the A.R.G.U.S squad in the future.
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