How 'Better Call Saul' Inspired 'Peacemaker,'
Aside from reaffirming Bob Odenkirk's status as a national treasure and illustrating exactly how managing Cinnabon in Nebraska can actually constitute a happy ending (and/or beginning?) it seems the influence of Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul spans well beyond the confines of Albuquerque, New Mexico and the greater Omaha area, apparently inspiring the Worlds of DC.
On Thursday, the first episode of Peacemaker, a new series centered around John Cena's character of the same name set after the events of 2021's The Suicide Squad, hit HBO Max. Marking the first time an action-comedy has so prominently featured an invisible actor and James Gunn's TV writing debut, the Guardians of the Galaxy director says he turned to Better Call Saul writers Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for some unusual inspiration in translating the life and times of Christopher “The Peacemaker” Smith to the small-screen -- namely, the discussions between the series' main characters set inside the show's Fennel Fields restaurant.
“It’s the ability to take its time in telling the story," Gunn, who wrote and directed The Suicide Squad recently told The Hollywood Reporter. “Both Saul and Chris are kind of sad-sack characters who are really good at one thing and then really bad at a lot of other things. So I think it’s really just taking that incredibly smart dialogue, that relaxed nature of grounded life and then mixing that with the other things that I wanted to do with the show. But I love Better Call Saul," he continued. "I think it’s one of the best shows on TV, if not the best.”
Don't Miss
But beyond the AMC series, Gunn says he also found inspiration from his own source material, using the show as a means to tease out certain dynamics that he says wouldn't exactly work within the confines of a film.
“I took what I know from screenwriting and I just allowed things to play out a little bit more. That’s really the only thing,” Gunn said. “You could not tell the story of Harcourt and Peacemaker in a movie. It’s too weird where they start, where they go and where they end up. So it’s just a much more complicated relationship, and you need things to be more cut and dried in a two-hour movie.”
So folks, here's to Peacemaker – to paraphrase his small-screen counterpart, "HE'S GONNA BE A DAMN GOOD HERO AND PEOPLE ARE GONNA KNOW ABOUT IT."
Top Image: HBO Max/AMC
For more internet nonsense, follow Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ on Twitch @HuntressThompson_ and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.
