James Gunn pens a heartfelt message to his Peacemaker star Danielle Brooks on the actors birthday

James Gunn has always held a special place for his Peacemaker leads, be it John Cena, who plays the titular anti-hero, or Danielle Brooks, who plays Leota Adebayo. This was more than apparent when Gunn broke his rule of never bringing back characters who've died with Cena's Christopher Smith.

With Danielle Brooks, however, the connection goes deeper, as was apparent in his heartfelt birthday message for the Peacemaker star.

Peacemaker star receives a heartfelt birthday message from creator James Gunn

Peacemaker truly is Gunn's favorite child.

When it came to the titular anti-hero Christopher Smith, Gunn broke his rule of never bringing back characters who've died. When Cena's anti-hero was shot in the neck in the 2021 Suicide Squad, fans assumed Cena wouldn't appear in the DC Universe anywhere. Gunn broke this assumption by revealing Cena's Smith to be alive in the post-credit scenes.

For the second lead of the show, Danielle Brooks' Leota Adebayo, her character was actually written because Gunn loved her work in Orange is the New Black as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson.

Adebayo revealed in an old conversation that Gunn approached her and revealed that he loved her work and had written a character for her, and even went as far as naming that character after his own mother, Leota Gunn:

"So, crazy enough, James Gunn watched “Orange Is the New Black.” He was a fan. And he wrote this part with me in mind. I was really excited"

She went on to add that when she shared with him how out of place she felt in the DC Universe and the action hero stuff, he made her feel like she already fit into the world and did not need to change at all for it.

"So we ended up having a meeting, and we just hit it off. I explained to him [that] I’ve never seen anyone like myself in this world. It was really exciting for James to say, “I like you the way you are. I don’t want you to get all this training and try to lose 100 pounds” or all this stuff. He didn’t try to make me fit into his world. He said, “You already fit.” I really appreciated that."

Well, fit she does; the entire DC Universe has just gone through a retcon, and the entire Peacemaker cast and their characters are still a part of the universe and going strong with the second season of the show.

As for Gunn, he is closer than ever to the cast of Peacemaker, as he takes to his official X account to wish Brooks a happy birthday with an extremely heartfelt message:

"Happy birthday to my pal Danielle Brooks! I know the others will never come up to your level - but it gives them something to aspire to. I couldn't have picked a better person to play a character named after my mother. Love you, D!"

New episodes of Peacemaker Season 2 drop every Thursday on HBO Max.

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