‘Peacemaker’ premiere features surprise ‘The Suicide Squad’ character cameo

This article contains spoilers for Peacemaker episode one.

Following last summer’s The Suicide Squad, both writer/director James Gunn and star John Cena return to the DC universe in Peacemaker. The very first TV series set in the DCEU, the spinoff show reveals what happens next to Cena’s Christopher Smith, the world’s most violent pacifist, after he miraculously survived a building falling on top of him in TSS.

Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee also reprise their characters, Emilia Harcourt and John Economos, on the show. In the run-up to Peacemaker‘s release, Gunn did tease that one more character from the movie would turn up. Now that we’ve seen the first episode, which just dropped on HBO Max this Thursday, we can confirm who that is. Warning: this is your last chance to avoid spoilers.

Alongside Smith, Peacemaker‘s other POV character is Leota Adebayo, as played by Danielle Brooks, who seems way too nice to be a member of Amanda Waller’s team of black-ops agents. The truth about her is revealed, however, when we see her speaking on a Zoom call with none other than Waller herself, with Viola Davis returning as the ARGUS chief for the third time.

Leota stresses that she doesn’t fit as part of Waller’s world and wants to get out after this mission is over, but Waller says she has “God-given talents” and could have a bright future if she followed in her footsteps. Leota disagrees, though, and ends the conversation by saying goodbye to her mother.

Leota is an original character for the screen, so the twist that she’s Waller’s daughter is an unexpected development. It’s unclear if Davis will pop up as The Wall again, but it’s feasible that Leota could talk to her mom over Zoom again in a future episode, maybe in the finale.

The first three episodes of Peacemaker became available to stream on HBO Max today. The rest of the eight-part series arrives weekly on Thursdays from now on.