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In the season 2 finale of Peacemaker, it's revealed that a SHIELD-like organization called Checkmate has been established within the DCU to operate in opposition to its sinister older sister organization, A.R.G.U.S., and that the latter group has set up an alternate-dimension metahuman prison planet called Salvation. According to DC Studios co-boss James Gunn, this isn't a setup for a new season of Peacemaker - it's a turning point in the larger DCU story he's telling across TV shows, movies, and more. 

So big in fact, that it was in the pitch he gave to Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav when he was being interviewed for his DC Studios job.

“I knew where [Peacemaker season two episode eight] was going from the time that we first kind of came up with the outline of the general story of the DCU with the group of writers in the writer room,” James Gunn says during an interview with Brandon Davis. “So, that’s always been there. Actually, that was there before that, because when I actually pitched the idea of the DCU to David Zaslav and what some of the stories would be, I pitched the end of episode eight to Zaslav.”

“[Zaslav] was pretty on board from the beginning, and I could have been telling him probably anything at that point. He was really into the idea of the connected universe and what the overall story was. Obviously, you see in some ways how this is going to have big ramifications on Man of Tomorrow. I mean, we’re seeing a partnership begin between an unlikely pairing of people, and this is not the end of that.”

Gunn is referring to the alliance between Lex Luthor and Rick Flag Sr., which began in Peacemaker season two episode six. 

Gunn has said that a third season of Peacemaker may not happen, but that elements of this would be setting up what comes next. 

.... So what comes next?

• Early 2026: Lanterns season 1 (TV series)
• June 26, 2026: Supergirl (movie)
• September 11, 2026: Clayface (movie)
• July 9, 2027: Man of Tomorrow (movie)