Skip to main content

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

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!”

Recommended Videos

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.
Image via Max

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.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
More Last of Us coming to HBO: Season 3 renewed ahead of season 2 premiere
More clickers are coming. HBO has renewed the hit series The Last of Us for season 3. The news comes ahead of the season 2 premiere.
Two girls sit in chairs next to one another.

The Last of Us season 3 is official. HBO has renewed the hit series for a third season ahead of the season 2 premiere.

The news should not come as a surprise, considering the popularity of The Last of Us season 1. The series premiere drew 4.7 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms, the second-largest debut since 2010 behind House of the Dragon. The Last of Us consistently grew its audience during the eight-episode first season, with 8.2 million viewers tuning in for the season 1 finale.

Read more
The Last of Us creator will not ‘worry’ about fan reactions to season 2
A girl uses a sniper as a man lays next to her.

The pressure is on for The Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann to raise the bar in season 2. How will the duo improve upon season 1, which is regarded as one of the best video game adaptations ever?
Druckmann, who also created the video game franchise, won't let external forces, including fan reaction, influence his decision-making.

"I've said this before, but I feel like the best way we could respect our fans and honor them is to not worry about them when we're crafting the thing because outside influence or pressure doesn't lead you to good creative choices," Druckmann said in an interview with GamesRadar+.

Read more
The Last of Us season 2 trailer shows Joel and Ellie’s broken relationship
Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us season 2.

If you've ever played The Last of Us or watched the HBO series of the same name, then you know that Joel (Pedro Pascal) loves Ellie (Bella Ramsey) like a daughter. He'd die for her, and he's more than willing to kill for her. That's at the core of their emotional rift in The Last of Us season 2, which is based upon The Last of Us Part II. In the final moments of HBO's newly released season 2 trailer, Ellie finally learns just how far Joel went to protect her at the end of season 1. And their relationship is never going to be the same.

Even before the truth comes out, there are clearly some signs of strain between the two in the footage, even as he gifts her a guitar and admires her tattoo. Ellie's growing up in safety of Jackson, Wyoming, and she's even got a new love interest, Dina (Isabela Merced), who shares a passionate kiss with her in the trailer. However, Jackson isn't as safe as they hoped, as its walls come under attack. The people infected by the Cordyceps virus are always going to be dangerous, but the real threat to Joel and Ellie is from other people.

Read more