Peacemaker season 3: key information
– Hasn’t been greenlit
– Increasingly unlikely to get made
– Could continue by way of a spin-off show
– No trailer revealed yet
– Main cast members would be expected to return
– Last season’s finale reveals what’s next for the 11th Street Kids
– Could tie into other DC Universe (DCU) movies and TV shows
“Is Peacemaker season 3 happening?” It’s a question everyone’s been asking since last season ended.
The short answer is, it doesn’t look like the DC Universe (DCU) TV show will be back for another installment. If you’re wondering why, it’s because the final episode of Peacemaker season 2 appears to have set up a completely different series – and you can learn everything about it in this guide.
Below, I’ve rounded up all we know so far about Peacemaker 3 and its possible Checkmate spin-off series, including who could appear in one or both projects, where the story of either show could go next, and more.
Peacemaker season 3 release date: what we know so far
Peacemaker season 3 hasn’t been greenlit by DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. In the least surprising news you’ll read all day, then, it also doesn’t have a release date.
It’s increasingly unlikely that it’ll be developed, too. In late September, Gunn admitted a sequel to Peacemaker season 2 wasn’t on the cards. However, he also said characters from Peacemaker would return, albeit in something that’s “not exactly Peacemaker 3.”
Furthermore, speaking on the season 2 finale edition of the Official Peacemaker Podcast, Gunn teased: “Peacemaker will be back [but] as this TV show? We’ll see exactly what form [that takes]. We have plans”. He also said its characters are part of “the future of the DCU” and it won’t be long before we see them again.
What does all of that mean? Peacemaker‘s latest chapter, now available on HBO Max, suggests that a spin-off show centered on Checkmate, the spy agency co-founded by the titular anti-hero and his 11th Street Kids allies, is in the works instead. Hopefully, Gunn will confirm as much in the near future.
Peacemaker season 3 trailer: is there one?
Nope. With Gunn suggesting Peacemaker season 3 won’t get made, we might not get one, either.
That doesn’t mean a trailer won’t be released for a possible Checkmate TV show. However, there’s no public information on whether that’s even in development, let alone if any internal work has been carried out at DC Studios yet.
With Gunn steadfastly stating that filming won’t begin on any DCU project until its scripts are complete and he’s happy with them, it’ll be a long, long time before a teaser for either TV series is with us.
Peacemaker season 3 cast: who could return?
Full spoilers follow for Peacemaker season 2.
Predictably, Peacemaker season 3’s cast roster hasn’t been unveiled. However, based on how its forebear ended and what was teased about Checkmate, here’s who I’d expect to see in either TV show:
- Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt
- Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo
- Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase / Vigilante
- Steve Agee as John Economos
- Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux
- Tim Meadows as Langston Fleury
- Nhut Lee as Rip Jagger/Judomaster
- Dee Bradley Baker as Eagly (voice-only)
Peacemaker‘s season 2 finale confirmed that the above – plus John Cena’s Chris Smith, who I’ll get back to in a moment – co-founded Checkmate, so they’re all on its payroll. If a Checkmate TV show is spun out from one of the best HBO Max shows’ second season, then I’d expect these actors to reprise their roles as their respective characters.
Well, everyone except for Cena. Smith, aka Peacemaker, won’t be part of this DCU Chapter One pseudo-sequel because he’s stranded on a completely different world from the DCU’s planet Earth. Unless Checkmate‘s plot centers on his allies’ attempts to find out what happened to him and eventually track him down, I suspect Cena won’t be part of the proceedings.
There are other DC comic book characters – ones we’ve seen in the DCU before and those who are newcomers to Gunn and Safran’s nascent cinematic universe – who could appear. Right now, though, I’ve no idea who else could pop up.
Peacemaker season 3 story speculation
Full spoilers follow for Peacemaker season 2.
There’s no story synopsis for Peacemaker season 3 or its predicted offshoot. However, given what happened in last season’s finale – read more about it in my Peacemaker season 2 ending explained piece – there are a couple of things we can speculate on.
For starters, the 11th Street Kids – Harcourt, Adebayo, Economos, Chase, and Eagly – will be flummoxed by what’s happened to Smith. They have no idea that he was kidnapped by ARGUS and marooned on the planet known as Salvation. Regardless of whether Peacemaker 3 or Checkmate is announced by DC Studios, I imagine either project’s overarching narrative will focus on the group’s efforts to learn the truth about Smith’s disappearance and try to bring him back home.
That storyline could form the basis of Checkmate or Peacemaker season 3, but it wouldn’t be the only one. After all, Checkmate was set up to make the world a better place, so its small but intrepid gang of characters would likely take on other cases with a view to solving them.
In that sense, it could play out in a similar way to Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series and/or put a comic book-inspired spin on popular ‘case of the week’ TV shows like The X-Files. Doing so would allow Checkmate to spotlight certain characters in each episode and allow its showrunner (whether that’s Gunn or someone else) to dip their toes into all kinds of subgenres, albeit with a comic book twist.
There are unresolved plot threads from Peacemaker season 2 that could be revisited or wrapped up in Checkmate or its parent show’s third season, too.
The biggest of those concerns Earth-2’s Keith Smith, who’s still alive after the events of season 2’s penultimate chapter. He may exist in an alternate reality to the DCU, but after what went down in last season’s seventh episode, he’ll want to get revenge on the DCU’s Smith and his allies.
This might not be the last we’ve seen of Captain Triumph (or whatever moniker he may have assumed since we last saw him). Speaking to Deadline, Gunn said: “I have plans for Keith, I just haven’t figured out exactly how it’s all going to work out, so I have to make sure I can do it. It’s hard with the interdimensional hopping stuff to make these things come together in the way I’d like. I have what I would like to happen with Keith, but I’m not sure.”
If Peacemaker season 3 ever sees the light of day, and if it wants to tackle another multiverse story, he could be installed as its primary villain.
Will there be more seasons of Peacemaker?
Who knows. Per IGN, Gunn hasn’t ruled out the prospect of making another season of Peacemaker. On Threads, Gunn also insisted the character played by Cena is “instrumental” to the DCU’s overarching story. Right now, though, Gunn’s full focus is on Man of Tomorrow, aka the follow-up to 2025’s Superman movie (more on this later).
In my view, the chance that more seasons of Peacemaker will be made is extremely slim. It would be strange if Gunn, Safran, and company developed Checkmate, which might be Peacemaker 3 in all but name, and then made an actual third season of its parent show.
Unless Checkmate was designated Peacemaker season 2.5, a third season of the main TV series would actually be Peacemaker season 4, which might confuse viewers and make things messy from a DCU timeline perspective (for more details on the latter, check out our DC movies in order guide). Until there’s some actual movement on Peacemaker 3 and/or a Checkmate spin-off, then, who knows what the future holds for the former.
How could Peacemaker season 3 tie into other DCU projects?
Again, I don’t know yet. With Gunn putting all of his efforts into the Superman follow-up film, we might not know how Peacemaker 3 and/or Checkmate could tie into Man of Tomorrow (MoT). For more on that flick, check out my dedicated guide for Man of Tomorrow.
If, and it’s a big if, Salvation – aka the planet Smith is trapped on – has a large part to play in MoT, then Gunn’s next DCU film and Peacemaker season 3/Checkmate could narratively run alongside each other. That’s just speculation on my part, but I don’t think you can have a situation where the 11th Street Kids might be searching for Smith without this storyline being impacted by MoT. The same would be true of Gunn’s Superman sequel if it involves Salvation in some capacity.
With Man of Tomorrow set to arrive in theaters worldwide in July 2027, principal photography will have to start early next year. Hopefully, we’ll then get some answers about that movie’s cast roster and plot, plus how Peacemaker 3/Checkmate‘s narrative might fit around it.
For now, all Gunn will say (per Threads) is this: “Where Chris is at the end, what is happening between the government and the metahumans, Rick and Lex’s new partnership, and all of their decision[s] to do what they did is all a part of the future, MoT, and more”. Even though the Peacemaker season 2 finale was somewhat underwhelming, I, for one, can’t wait to see what lies in store for Peacemaker and the rest of the DCU.
For more DCU coverage, read my guides on Supergirl, Clayface, Creature Commandos season 2, and Lanterns.
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