Why There Are No Plans For Peacemaker Season 3, According To James Gunn

Spoilers follow.

"Peacemaker" ended its second season with a finale that was low on pointless cameos but high on emotional payoff and character moments. James Gunn delivered a stellar sophomore season where his band of misfits reckoned with their trauma, made terrible choices, discovered a Nazi dimension, listened to some sweet rock, and ultimately came out the other side stronger together because of it. Those expecting another Justice League-style cameo at the end were not watching the right show, because "Peacemaker" has never been about that.

Yet the finale also made big moves with repercussions for the entire DC Universe. The 11th Street Kids gained new members in former A.R.G.U.S. employees Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows), Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodriguez), and Judomaster (Nhut Le), and decided to form their own covert operations agency called Checkmate, to do the good that A.R.G.U.S. is not doing. Oh, and the finale also ended up with a big cliffhanger for our favorite complicated hero, Christopher Smith (John Cena), who is left stranded on an alternate universe Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) means to use as an interdimensional prison.

With such a big cliffhanger, "Peacemaker" should get a third season confirmed soon to solve its loose threads, right? RIGHT? Well, not so fast. In an interview with Deadline after the airing of the season 2 finale, James Gunn confirmed he is not planning "Peacemaker" season 3, at least not now.

"This is about the wider DCU and other stories in which this will play out right now. That doesn't mean that there won't be," Gunn said. "I don't want to never say never, but right now, no, this is about the future of the DCU. It's an important character."

Granted, Gunn could be bending the truth here to maintain some secrecy around the DCU. Still, it would make sense for this to be true. "Peacemaker" won't return for season 3, but that doesn't mean the characters won't appear on TV again. As Gunn said later on in the interview, "You'll definitely see Checkmate carrying through like they're a thing now, so they're a part of what's going to happen."

This is key, that Gunn isn't just placing the "Peacemaker" cast in stasis, but rather they'll be important to what comes next. It's very clear this season directly sets up the events of the "Superman" sequel, "Man of Tomorrow" and possibly beyond that. If you aren't familiar with the comics, Checkmate has a long and important history within the DC Universe as a spy agency, and it is quite possible that Gunn will simply bring the characters back under a "Checkmate" TV show rather than a new season of "Peacemaker," with the story focusing on the larger team rather than just Chris.

Ever since he became head of DC, James Gunn has been talking about synergy being a key element of his plans for the universe. The characters will go from TV to film, from live-action to animation and vice-versa, as long as it serves a story. Nothing is off the table and nothing is 100% standalone. This means we could see the end of "Peacemaker" for now, but still see the characters pop up in other DC projects, just like Cena's Peacemaker showed up briefly in "Superman," only to have them come back in a few years once Checkmate becomes an established part of the universe. Gunn says in the interview that Peacemaker is an important character moving forward in the DCU, so none of the characters are going anywhere.