James Gunn has been very active on his Twitter account lately, answering questions from fans and providing some unexpected insights into his movies and upcoming projects. As well as discussingGuardians of The GalaxyandThe Suicide Squad, another of his works in progress is theSuicide Squadspin-off series,Peacemakerstarring John Cena. While it seems no time at all since we first heard about the project, according to Gunn, filming is almost at an end.
When asked how thefilming of Peacemaker was going, and whether they were finished, Gunn replied, “We’re in the home stretch. We’re 131 days in. I’m shooting the last episode (I’ve shot 5 of the 8 episodes).” He was also asked about the length of episodes, something that has been a big thing for Marvel fans who have been keeping meticulous track of the timings on Disney+ series. Making a very interesting comment,James Gunnsaid, “I just cut the best episode I can and then whatever it ends up, that’s the length! That’s the beauty of streaming television!”
The comment opens up a big point about the surge in content made for a platform that doesn’t have to conform to a schedule like network or cable shows. Where as in the past, allowing for ad breaks, a series would have to keep their episodes to a half hour or one hour time slot, on streaming platforms such as Netflix, HBO Max, or Disney+, the episode length has no set template. A prime example of this would be the first season of Netflix’sBlack Summer, which had episode lengths ranging from 50 minute to 12 minutes.
While many of theDisney+ offeringshave been standard in their episode length, give or take a couple of minutes, Gunn doesn’t seem like he has been particularly stringent with the timings of his episodes. Although at first this could be seen as a good thing, not just forPeacemakerbut for shows in general, where the makers don’t feel they have to condense a story into a set time with no room for maneuver, allowing, in theory, every episode to be a “Director’s Cut”. On the other hand, it also gives them the ability to overstretch a story, prolonging scenes that could be shorter just because they can. It is a fine line to walk, and I’m sure it will take some directors and producers time to get used to perfecting the format.
Peacemakeris the first, possibly of many, spin-offs from James Gunn’sThe Suicide Squad, centering the action on John Cena’s character from the movie. According to earlier comments made by Gunn, the series “allowed us to go deeper into developing the character a lot more than we could in the movie.” With HBO Max and Warner Bros. attempting to emulate the success of the MCU on the big and small screen, it is not surprising that, similar toWandaVision,Falcon and The Winter SoldierandLoki, Warner Bros. are looking to create what almost become individual appendices that expand on the films around them.The Suicide Squadarrives in cinemas and on HBO Max in August, whilePeacemakeris currently set to premiere in January 2022.
