Peacemaker: John Cena teases dysfunctional family relationships in the series

It seems that John Cena might have taken a few lessons from his time in the Fast & Furious universe as his upcoming Peacemaker series will place a big emphasis on… family. Somewhere, Vin Diesel’s ears just perked up.

While speaking with SFX Magazine, John Cena revealed that the Peacemaker series will dive into the complicated relationship between Peacemaker, aka Christopher Smith, and his father (Robert Patrick).

I really enjoy the dynamic between Chris and his dad. It addresses a very important thing that all of us can relate to, and that’s the sometimes uncomfortable dysfunction of family.

John Cena continued, saying “In Peacemaker, you’re gonna see a lot of stuff that people can relate to in their lives, and be able to craft their own takeaways. I never want to tell people how to feel or think when they watch something, but I really love the fact that it hits on a lot of stuff about what family means to us, searching for approval of others, how to live your life, and nature versus nurture and how we’re raised. How the values we grew up in can change, and how difficult it is to unwire some stuff. There’s a bunch in there that is really gonna be good and fun to look at in the whole series.”

As we know, family doesn’t just mean blood, and the series will also explore the unexpected relationship between Peacemaker and Danielle Brooks’ character of Leota Adebayo. “I think she’s the one person that creates a safe environment for maybe him to be him,” Cena said. “This is a guy who literally, by his own free will, is dancing in his underwear in somebody else’s apartment. There’s more than what you see on the surface inside of Chris Smith, and I think Adebayo is a nice catalyst to bring that out.”

James Gunn wrote all eight episodes of Peacemaker and directed five, with the first three episodes of the series set to debut on HBO Max on January 13th.