James Gunn's DC Universe has been thriving since it launched. We had animated series Creature Commandos start things off on a smaller-scale, earning acclaim from fans and building a devoted audience. Superman changed the game with a successful flight onto the silver screen, while the second season of Peacemaker proved a success story for HBO Max. All in all, three major victories.
The third of those projects was a carry over from the previous DC Extended Universe, meaning that all of the characters involved in that particular series could return in the new shared universe. In fact, another one of them was supposed to. But a recent update has suggested that fans' hopes of that happening might have been crushed.
Waller gets a disconcerting update from HBO Max boss
It sounds like we'll be waiting a long time for Amanda Waller's small screen return. That is, if it comes at all. Viola Davis is expected to reprise her role as the infamous DC Comics villain in her own HBO Max spinoff series Waller , but a recent update from the boss of that particular streaming platform hasn't inspired fans with too much hope.
Speaking to Variety, HBO and HBO Max boss Casey Bloys discussed the DC Universe's slower roll-out of superhero content, particularly in regards to the fast pace with which Disney released new Marvel titles. Waller is one project that felt particularly slow on the roll-out, and when asked whether we could see the spinoff go into production anytime soon, Bloys responded:
"Put it this way, I wouldn’t say it’s on the runway. But Lanterns is coming up this summer."
Needless to say, fans aren't thrilled about that one. After all, it was one of the DCU's most high-profile, long-awaited projects.
Waller was first announced by DC Studios co-chairmen and CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran back in 2023 when the pair officially launched their new DC Universe slate. It was a pretty surprising one; not because Amanda Waller wasn't a compelling character - anyone who reads a DC Comics storyline knows that she is - but because the corrupt head of ARGUS was a big part of the previous DCEU franchise.
See, Viola Davis made her debut as the DCEU's version of Amanda Waller in 2016's Suicide Squad, firmly establishing her as part of that particular shared universe. However, it was return in 2021's The Suicide Squad that solidified her future in the DCU. The latter was directed by James Gunn and eventually led to the spinoff Peacemaker, with John Cena reprising his role from that film. One of the main characters on that show is actually Waller's daughter, which allowed Davis to make a cameo as Waller herself. And thus, when Gunn and Safran pressed reset on the DCEU, the one thing that they saved was Peacemaker - and all the characters tied to it. Therefore, Waller can indeed return in the new DCU with the same (albeit slightly different) history she had in the previous shared universe.
Yeah, it's a lot to explain - particularly for fans with no knowledge of how multiverses work in the comic books - but the underpinning point here is that Davis can - and probably will - return to screens as Amanda Waller. Unfortunately, it sounds like it's going to be on the backburner for some time to come.
A lot of fans have pointed out that the new DC Universe made a wise choice in ensuring that she was one of the few DCEU legacy characters it maintained. Davis is a world-class performer who has single-handedly made Amanda Waller her own - so much so that it's hard to imagine anyone else ever playing the character. And yet, it still feels like the studio is dropping the ball in not having her return in the immediate future.
It's almost a decade since Davis made her Suicide Squad debut and she still only has three DC appearances to her name thus far. None of those are in the new DC Universe, so it goes without saying that the franchise should at some point in the near-future find a way for her to return in a different property. The only problem is that, with Peacemaker season 3 unlikely to happen and the DC Universe focusing more on the heroics side of things with Man of Tomorrow and Lanterns, it might not be in the foreseeable future.