HBO Max's The Suicide Squad spin-off looks set to get a spin-off of its own

Viola Davis in The Suicide Squad
(Image credit: Warner Bros)

HBO Max is preparing a new spin-off from Peacemaker, it has been revealed, with Viola Davis' Amanda Waller set to be its focus. 

According to Variety, HBO Max has entered talks with Davis over a new series, with the star set to lead and executive producer. Watchmen writer Christal Henry is attached to write the show. 

Davis' journey as Waller dates all the way back to David Ayer's rather botched take on Suicide Squad back in 2016. She retained the part when James Gunn was brought in to overhaul the property for Warner Brothers in 2021 with The Suicide Squad and plans clearly remain for her character to plan a significant role in the expanded Suicide Squad universe. 

This spin-off is billed as a spin-off from Peacemaker, HBO Max's hit show which debuted earlier this year and has been booked for a second run already. 

So how will the two cross over?

A spin-off from a spin-off?

It does sound complicated. And if you've not seen Peacemaker, there are some spoilers below. 

Peacemaker, who first appeared as a character in James Gunn's 2021 take on The Suicide Squad, is John Cena's Christopher Smith, a brutal, uncompromising, jingoistic killer who believes in achieving peace at any cost. 

In his show, we meet Smith after the events of The Suicide Squad, as he's forced to join a mysterious black-ops squad named A.R.G.U.S. The squad's mission is a complex one– they're on a mission to identify and eliminate parasitic butterfly-like creatures who have taken over human bodies around the world.

Davis' Amanda Waller is a high-level government operative, who serves as director of A.R.G.U.S., having already established the Suicide Squad. She is the one who forces Smith to join A.R.G.U.S and keeps an eye on Smith via her daughter, Leota Adebayo. 

At the end of Peacemaker's first season, Adebayo takes the decision to go public with her mother's black ops work with Task Force X, a.k.a the Suicide Squad, putting her in a world of hurt. 

According to the reports, the spin-off will build on that development, with James Gun also among the executive producers. 

Analysis: HBO Max loves a spin-off

There are lots and lots of them in the pipeline. The Batman will be spun off for a miniseries based around Colin Farrell's Penguin. The eight-episode run (as exclusively revealed by TechRadar) is being developed now. 

A Dune prequel, Dune: The Sisterhood, is on the way, as is a prequel for Stephen King's It, while it was recently revealed that HBO Max has big plans for two Sherlock Holmes spin-offs. 

But it does seem to be working. Peacemaker was a big hit, ending its first season with the biggest single-day audience for an HBO Max Original series to date.

It's a good formula, if a character resonates as part of a movie, why not give them more room to explore the character in a longer format? As long as the quality remains, long may it continue... 

Tom Goodwyn
Freelance Entertainment Writer

Tom Goodwyn was formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor. He's now a freelancer writing about TV shows, documentaries and movies across streaming services, theaters and beyond. Based in East London, he loves nothing more than spending all day in a movie theater, well, he did before he had two small children…