Viola Davis in talks for Peacemaker spinoff about Amanda Waller

HBO Max started off 2022 strong with Peacemaker, its TV spinoff of The Suicide Squad movie all about John Cena’s bumbling antihero who will kill as many men, women, and children as it takes to get peace. Helmed by The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, the series had a great first season; its finale had the highest single-day performance for any episode of an HBO Max original on the platform to date.

In addition to the announcement that Peacemaker will receive a second season, James Gunn also revealed back in January that he was developing a spinoff that was “connected to this universe” but “won’t be as much a comedy as Peacemaker.”

Now, we’re starting to find out a little bit more about Gunn’s reported Peacemaker spinoff, and it’s both kind of surprising and also not surprising at all.

Suicide Squad spinoff about Amanda Waller in the works at HBO Max

Deadline reports that HBO Max is developing a Peacemaker spinoff centered around the character of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Waller featured in both 2016’s Suicide Squad and 2021’s The Suicide Squad, as well as in Peacemaker. She’s the one who pulls these teams of villains together and sends them out on suicidal missions, with the threat of immediate death should they refuse to comply, of course.

Waller continued her behind-the-scenes maneuvering in Peacemaker, setting her own daughter Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) up as a mole in the superhero’s party of allies in order to frame him. That plan backfired, as Adebayo and Peacemaker became besties and her guilt led her to reveal her mother’s plan to the world at large. Waller may not be a superhero herself, but given the big twist at the end of Peacemaker it’s easy to imagine a spinoff that follows her dealing with the fallout.

Watchmen writer Christal Henry will reportedly write the series and be an executive producer, with James Gunn and Peter Safran also serving  as executive producers on the project. More news on this one as it develops.

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h/t The A.V. Club