\u201cI\u2019m busy, frankly. A little more busy than I wish I was,\u201d Gunn tells RadioTimes.com<\/a> over Zoom in a break from Guardians filming. \u201cThings are insane right now.\u201d<\/p>\n So he\u2019s happy to take some time away to talk about Peacemaker<\/a>, which finally makes its UK TV debut over two months after it started in the States. Suffice to say, Gunn wasn\u2019t thrilled with the delay, noting that he\u2019d been \u201cfrustrated\u201d by various legal issues that stopped the show from being shown simultaneously around the world.<\/p> \u201cThat unfortunately didn\u2019t work out, and it\u2019s nobody\u2019s real fault. There\u2019s a bunch of legal weirdness with all this stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I\u2019m just really happy that at least it\u2019s there right now.\u201d<\/p>\n And in any case, Peacemaker is worth the wait. Starring John Cena as the titular antihero, prepared to murder anyone for the vague goal of \u201cpeace at any cost,\u201d the adult-themed series is an engaging, funny and surprisingly emotional production. It easily answers any doubters who might have wondered why of all the colourful characters in The Suicide Squad, the antagonistic Peacemaker was the one Gunn wanted to spend more time with.<\/p>\n \u201cJohn Cena and I had talked so much about the character: how he felt; what his emotional reality was,\u201d Gunn tells us. \u201cHe\u2019s this awkward guy who just can\u2019t let friendship in, and is always insecure. And yet he\u2019s so boisterous, and he brags about himself so much.<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t a bragger that isn\u2019t insecure, because the reason to be a bragger is to convince yourself and other people that you\u2019re worth a sh** when you\u2019re not, when you don\u2019t feel you are.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I just thought there was a lot of depth to the character that we didn\u2019t get to see. There\u2019s a lot of story to who he is, and where he came from, that we didn\u2019t get to see in The Suicide Squad. We saw a lot more of [Idris Elba\u2019s] Bloodsport and [Daniela Melchior\u2019s] Ratcatcher. I just felt he had the most gold to mine, at least at this point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n In the series, Peacemaker is forced to confront his traumatic childhood (thanks to his father, played by a venom-spitting Robert Patrick) and work with a team to take down an alien invasion, opening himself up to help in a way he\u2019s not used to. And clearly, Gunn\u2019s instincts were right \u2013 the series has struck a chord with fans, with the finale setting a record for single-day HBO Max viewing figures after increasing its viewership every week.<\/p>\n In other words, it seems like Peacemaker has been something of a word-of-mouth hit, surprising everyone (including Gunn) with the level of interest in it \u2013 especially considering the film it sprang from only raised mediocre returns at the box office last year.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m totally blown away. Blown away,\u201d Gunn says. \u201cBecause to me, I just wrote this thing during COVID that was the most creatively free I\u2019ve been since I was a child, if not ever. And then people have really grasped onto it. That\u2019s an incredibly moving thing as a creator, to see that happening.<\/p>\n \u201cI love in television that you can really get into the nuances of the relationships with the characters in a way that you can\u2019t with a film. It\u2019d be very, very difficult to have a relationship like Peacemaker has with Harcourt or Economos, for example, because they\u2019re very nuanced relationships.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd to be able to tell that story, and get into the weeds with that, and investigate that, is something you can do with television, whereas plot is king in a movie. You have to keep moving, moving, moving, moving, moving.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds: \u201cOne of the other reasons I wanted to do Peacemaker was because we had to cut so much of John\u2019s funny stuff in the movie, simply because it\u2019s not the nature of a movie. So, yeah, I love that part of television. I\u2019m really drawn to it, and it excites me more than films in a lot of ways right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Given Peacemaker\u2019s success a quick second season commission<\/a> wasn\u2019t a big surprise, with Gunn promising \u201ctonnes\u201d of new ideas and \u201csecrets to come\u201d \u2013 just as soon as he gets around to it. Because unfortunately for Peacemaker fans, Gunn is becoming a bit of a victim of his own success, booked up to his eyeballs and with little free time in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n At time of writing he\u2019s deep into production on the Guardians Holiday special, where he\u2019s entertained fans with a running Twitter commentary on the strange Rick & Morty merchandise someone has planted on the set.<\/p>\n Day 21 (we\u2019ve been shooting the Holiday special the last few days). Kirkland Mr. Meeseeks is here. No new clues about the perpetrator. #rickandmorty<\/a> #gotgvol3<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/0Fp6hrkQo6<\/a><\/p>\u2014 James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 16, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/james-gunn-john-cena-3094423.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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