From the beginning of his tenure at Warner Bros. and DC Films, James Gunn’s enthusiasm for the DC Universe has seemingly just kept feeding itself. Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” film led to the filmmaker creating a spinoff series, “Peacemaker” (our review), and that series starring John Cena seems like it will spin off even more stories.
Gunn is already working on a “Peacemaker” Season 2, but there’s more. He’s already teased another TV show, and in an upcoming “Peacemaker” interview with Playlist Awards Editor Gregory Ellwood, Gunn shed more light on the spinoffs he’s working on. Gunn teased even more DC projects, and suggested not all the details on the purported Amanda Waller spin-off project are correct (yet another “Peacemaker”/” The Suicide Squad” spinoff reportedly in the works). And if you were wondering if this professed Amanda Waller show is the second Gunn series he’s been teasing for a few months now, no, that’s not it.
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Asked about the Amanda Waller series and how Gunn might be involved, he suggested maybe not all of it was official yet. “We haven’t even announced any TV series yet,” he responded. Well, isn’t that information now public? To which Gunn responded, “There’s a lot of stories out there about what’s happening, and some of them are accurate, some of them are not.”
What is Gunn actually working on? He confirmed another DC TV series that’s “Peacemaker” adjacent, and on top of that, he suggested there are other DC projects he’s involved in as well, but at what capacity and whether they’re a film or a series, he didn’t say.
“I am working very seriously on another DC project, where I’m very involved in the writing and the direction of it,” he explained. “There will be some blending of the characters from ‘Peacemaker’ in the other shows I’m working on. And I’m involved with a couple of other [DC] things too.”
What those other things are? It’s unclear. Gunn already admitted when he first began talking to DC Films, after his unceremonious Disney firing that he had vaguely considered a Krypto the super dog idea and vaguely entertained the idea of rebooting Superman for a second but admitted in the end, he was much more interested in outsider DC characters instead.
Asked directly about whether he would want to make a direct film sequel to “The Suicide Squad,” Gunn said it’s been discussed with the powers that be, but it sounds like he has his hand too full with TV for the time being.
“Yeah, we’ve talked about it,” he said, about a ‘The Suicide Squad 2.’ “But the honest truth is, I just have so many hours in a day to work on stuff. And I had such a fun time working in television that I really think that’s what I’m going to spend the next year of my life doing.”
Currently in post-production on “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3.,” Marvel didn’t seem to be on Gunn’s mind beyond that film, and whatever he’s contemplating for the next few years of his life, it sounds like one way or another—whether it’s superhero focused or not—it’s all going to live at Warner Bros. Discovery.
“I’m thinking about what that next movie will be,” he continued. “And is that next movie going to be— if first of all, it could be something completely different than [the world of DC]. And I’m excited about Mike De Luca coming in to [Warner Bros.], frankly, because I’ve known him for a long time and I love Toby [Emmerich], but I’ve also known De Luca he’s been a friend of mine for many, many years.”
Summarizing what his thoughts are on the next movie, it’s much of the same idea, that could be: 1) “The Suicide Squad 2,” 2) a completely different, unrelated DC Films movie, or 3) a completely unrelated movie (mostly likely set up at Warner Bros. Discovery).
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do next because it could be a movie outside of [DC], but it could be a DC movie that has to do with these characters,” Gunn teased. “Does that mean it’s the ‘Suicide Squad’ movie or something else that’s within that world or a little bit different than that? And that I’m not exactly sure.”
Either way, the “next few years of his life” in DC Universe-related TV, and then, the contemplation of further DC films after that, and that practically sounds like the next decade of James Gunn’s life could have found a home at DC Films and Warner Bros. Discovery. — Additional reporting by Gregory Ellwood.