Peacemaker's new opening credits was "the only thing" James Gunn was "nervous" about in season 2: "You can't one-up the first season"

John Cena as Peacemaker, Jennifer Holland as Harcourt, Eagly and more pose in the Peacemaker opening title sequence
(Image credit: Warner Bros/HBO Max)

Peacemaker exploded onto our screens back in 2022 and immediately captured audience attention with its surreal opening dance, backed by Wig Wam's earworm 'Do You Wanna Taste It'.

One viral sensation later and James Gunn is tasked with doing it all over again in Peacemaker season 2. Here, Foxy Shazam's 'Oh Lord' is the soundtrack to the sequence, which sees John Cena's Peacemaker again strut his stuff, alongside faces new and old – and it was certainly worth the three-year wait.

"It was the only thing I was really nervous about," Gunn admits to GamesRadar+. "People say, 'How are you going to one-up the first season?' You can't one-up the first season because, truth is, people didn't know a dance scene was coming."

Gunn continues, "So they watched that first episode of Peacemaker, and all of a sudden there's a dance sequence and people are like, 'What is going on? This is the most insane thing I've ever seen.' You can never recapture that. I have to recapture that within the episodes themselves. And I think the way we capture that… is with the emotional depth of the season, and the romance and all of that."

But what about the process of picking the right song? Gunn has already proven to be a playlist savant, reviving long-forgotten-about bands and artists to help bolster his comic book movies and shows. From Guardians of the Galaxy's poppy soundtrack to Superman's use of 'Punkrocker', you're never far from a toe-tapping track when Gunn is at the wheel. The process this time, though, was a far-and-wide search for the right song.

"I just needed to make the best version of it I could. I listened to so many different songs," Gunn reveals. "In the same way 'Do You Wanna Taste It?' is the centre of the first season and how it plays, I needed a song like that. I think Foxy Shazam's 'Oh Lord' is perfect for that and happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time. So I think it ends up being really fun."

Peacemaker season 2 airs weekly on HBO Max in the US and Sky Max and NOW in the UK, Sky Showcase and NOW.

For more, check out our guide to DCU Chapter One and the complete Peacemaker season 2 release schedule, or our guide on watching the DC movies in order. Struggling to see how it all fits together? For that, you'll need the DCU timeline.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.

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