James Gunn, back when he first took over as the head of DC Studios, announced a slew of projects — except one, which he held back from the public. And while details have been scant about what to expect, thanks to this week’s episode of the Peacemaker project, we just learned some huge, shocking news: there will be superheroes in it.
While answering an audience question about the costumes on the currently running HBO Max series, Gunn said, “It’s a lot of work. I was just meeting with the writer and director of a forthcoming secret DCU project that we’re doing, and they were asking us about VFX and how much it costs and how many VFX characters we can have, and then they were talking about the superheroes in the show. And I was like, the one thing you kind of got to be careful about is the superhero costumes, because they are really difficult to make.”
While that’s the entire quote, it is some bit of info about a project that has certainly piqued the interest of DC fans. Earlier, when talking to Entertainment Weekly before the release of Superman, Gunn had laid out the upcoming slate of DC Studios projects, including Supergirl, Clayface and Lanterns, then dropped the bomb about a surprise TV show.
“Then there’s another TV show that’s my favorite thing in all of this, that is hopefully getting made soon. It’s just my favorite thing,” Gunn said. “And then there’s the movie…Oh s—! I don’t know what I’m allowed to say or not say, but there’s a couple of other movies that are being written, one of which is in pretty good shape, another which is kind of closer to the start, but we feel positive about. And then there’s a thing I’m writing, which I think it’s okay…. So what will be the next thing after Clayface is not 100 percent certain, but it’s pretty certain.”
We know now that the next thing Gunn is doing is the not-exactly-a-Superman-sequel Man of Tomorrow. But likely the project Gunn is talking about on the Peacemaker project is what he refers to as “my favorite thing in all of this,” which sounds like it has a writer and director that is not Gunn — though as it’s a TV show, it’s still possible he could be directing an episode or more.
And while Gunn’s statements to EW are a little confusing, it’s possible this TV project could be something that Gunn was worried other studios would steal. “There was one thing that I knew about from the very beginning,” Gunn added, “that when I pitched to David Zaslav what the DCU would be, I pitched to him, but we did not announce in that first meeting because I felt like it was too easy to rip off by another company. And so that’s one of the main things.”
So, what is this thing? We know it’s a TV series, and it’s not any of the previously announced ones like Lanterns, Waller, or the Themyscira show focused on Wonder Woman’s Amazons. We also know it has superheroes in it. And while we don’t know this about this TV show, we do know that Gunn is planning on doing more with John Cena’s Peacemaker beyond The Suicide Squad and the Peacemaker TV show — so perhaps this is the next step there.
Whatever it is, it seems like the project is moving apace, so expect more concrete news soon — or maybe it’ll just drop on HBO Max as a surprise. Perhaps it’s already there???
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