🦅 Peacemaker Exclusive Sheds Light on Season 2 and the DC Universe

Fans can be real sticklers about what’s canon within the franchises they love. But fiction by definition is making things up along the way. As Star Trek: Strange New Worlds showrunner Akiva Goldsman told us in the interview included herein, “You get away with more than you think,” and he insists that removing “the obligation of servicing everybody all the time” allows writers to dig deeper without feeling restricted by made-up rules.

James Gunn feels the same about the DC Universe, which everyone knows by now is being reinvented in spectacular fashion with the triumphant return of Superman. But as Peacemaker returns to HBO Max next month under the new umbrella, Gunn has to ignore or recontextualize the show's character cameos in the previous universe's discarded efforts like Black Adam and Shazam 2. “They’re not canon! I hate it!” he says.

So how do we feel about this? Is it retconning? Or is it independent storytelling, not tied to any companion property? You decide!

— Michael Ahr, Newsletter Editor

IN THIS ISSUE

• Our exclusive interview with James Gunn and the cast of Peacemaker 🦅

• More from our interview with the co-showrunners of Strange New Worlds 🪐

• An exclusive interview with Eddington writer/director Ari Aster 🌵

• …and more!