Peacemaker renewed; The Last of Us will now premiere in 2023

By Blair Marnell February 16, 2022

The season finale of Peacemaker will go live on HBO Max at midnight Thursday, February 17. However, HBO Max isn’t making fans fret about the fate of its titular antihero. Via The Hollywood Reporter, series creator James Gunn announced that Peacemaker is coming back for a second season.

“Creating Peacemaker has been one of the true highlights of my life, both professionally and otherwise, with John Cena and the incredible creative team around me, as well as our partners at HBO Max,” said Gunn in a statement. “To have something we all love so much be loved by the audience in turn has been a wonderful experience. I can’t wait for folks to see where team Peacemaker goes in season 2!”

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The series stars Cena as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker, a lesser-known DC Comics character who made his live-action debut in Gunn’s The Suicide Squad last summer. Cena also offered his own response to the show’s renewal.

“I am incredibly honored and humbled by the response to Peacemaker and the experience of playing this character,” said Cena.

John Cena stars as the titular antihero in HBO's Peacemaker.

That good news was accompanied by a slightly disappointing update from HBO regarding its upcoming video game adaptation, The Last of Us. An HBO representative confirmed that the series will not be arriving in 2022, and will instead premiere next year.

Via Deadline, HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys said: “It’s not going to air in 2022 — they are still shooting in Canada. I imagine you will see it in ’23. I have seen some early episodes and I’m very excited. Craig [Mazin] did Chernobyl for us, he is a fantastic writer and director. What I’ve seen looks amazing, so I’m excited for it, but it will not be in ’22.”

The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal and Game of Thrones standout Bella Ramsey are headlining The Last of Us as the main characters from the first game, Joel and Ellie, respectively. In a post-apocalyptic world, Joel is hired to escort Ellie on a dangerous cross-country journey that forces both of them to rely on each other to survive.

As noted above by Bloys, Mazin is bringing the video game to live-action alongside The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann.

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