Key Takeaways

• Role Origin: James Gunn initially wrote the Peacemaker role for Dave Bautista.
• Scheduling Conflict: Bautista had to decline the role due to commitments to another film.
• Positive Outcome: Bautista believes not getting the role was beneficial as John Cena excelled in it.
• Current Streaming: The second season of Peacemaker is now available on HBO Max.

During a recent appearance on the Howard Stern Show, James Gunn revealed that he originally wrote the role of Peacemaker with Dave Bautista in mind. “It was Dave Bautista. He’s a good friend of mine,” Gunn said. “Obviously, he plays Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, and I wrote the character of Peacemaker for him, and we offered him the role, but he was offered two movies, and we weren’t paying him a lot, and so he had to go where the money was.“

While speaking with ComicBook.com, Bautista spoke about turning down the part. “I have to say, that one. I really wanted to do that part. He wrote that part for me, and it was meant for me, and it just became a scheduling thing where I just couldn’t do it, because I was doing Army of the Dead,” Bautista said. “And so it was a scheduling issue that we just could not figure out.“

At the end of the day, Bautista thinks it was a “blessing in disguise” that he didn’t end up playing Peacemaker because John Cena was “just perfect for it.“

“I wouldn’t have done it justice, and it wouldn’t have been as successful,” Bautista said. “I just wouldn’t have been able to do the same thing that John does to bring to that character. It wouldn’t have been the same. It wouldn’t have been as good. I can honestly say it wouldn’t have been as good.“

The first four episodes of the second season of Peacemaker are currently streaming on HBO Max. Our own Alex Maidy is a big fan of the new season. “Peacemaker was great when it debuted and is even better the second time around,” he wrote. “James Gunn’s DCU is off to a strong start, and the man himself should take pride in having created three distinct projects to kick off his cinematic universe, which are all vastly different and yet impressively high quality. Peacemaker works because John Cena is the perfect blend of muscle and emotional presence, making the ensemble more cohesive than before. I love everything about this series, and I look forward to seeing how this season wraps up, inevitably leading into a third season and other aspects of the DCU.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.