The co-CEOs of DC Studios announced a slew of new film and TV projects for chapter one of the rebooted DC Universe which will span across television, movies, gaming, and animated series. According to Comicbook, Waller is new series coming to HBO Max starring Viola Davis in the role she’s played in 2016’s Suicide Squad, 2021’s The Suicide Squad, and the John Cena (Vacation Friends) spinoff series, Peacemaker. James Gunn, director of The Suicide Squad and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, delivered the news in an announcement video that can be viewed below.
Originally announced last May, Waller will be spinoff from the universe Peacemaker already established. Comicbook reports the series will take place between seasons one and two of the Cena-led show. Davis has been the most recent live-action portrayal of the formidable force behind some of DC Comics’ most volatile anti-heroes including The Suicide Squad, A.R.G.U.S., and Task Force X. The character originated in 1986’s Legends #1 comic from creators John Byrne (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 1), John Ostrander (Grimjack, The Suicide Squad: Trial by Fire), and Len Wein (Absolute Swamp Thing, Before Watchmen: Ozymandias/Crimson Corsair).
“As a comic book and Wonder Woman fan, I love the whole DC Comics universe,” Davis stated in previous THR interview. “I traded comic books as a kid so all of that appeals to me. When you dream about being an actor as a kid, that’s what you dream about. That’s like play acting: being the superhero, getting the gun; it plays into that fantasy.”
The series will be helmed by Christal Henry and Jeremy Carver, two writers with experience adapting comics and graphic novels to screen. Henry wrote on the Emmy-winning HBO limited series, Watchmen, while Carver has been a writer on the unique HBO Max series, Doom Patrol.
“So this is Viola Davis. She’s coming back as her character, Amanda Waller,” Gunn explained in the video. “This is also going to have some of Team Peacemaker in it, as the regulars on the show. This basically follows up to Peacemaker and is going to be done. We have two great creatives working on it. Christal Henry, who is a writer on Watchmen and Jeremy Carver, who created Doom Patrol, have this incredibly marvelous story worked out that I think is really fantastic and HBO loves. So they’re putting this all together.”
According to Comicbook, the storyline will pick up where viewers saw Waller last in Peacemaker: exposed as the mischievous hand behind the Suicide Squad and Task Force X’s violent secret missions. Not only is her secret now public knowledge, but the whistleblower was none other than her daughter, Leota Adebaya, played by Danielle Brooks (Robin Roberts presents: Mahalia, The Piano Lesson).
No official release date has been confirmed for any of the other TV projects which include a prequel Wonder Woman series, the long-anticipated Green Lantern series, and a show centering on the time-traveling hero, Booster Gold.