James Gunn’s Peacemaker picked up Best Superhero Television Series at the 53rd Saturn Awards, beating out Daredevil: Born Again, Gen V, Invincible, Ironheart, and The Sandman.
The win is notable on its own, but what really stands out is Jennifer Holland using the moment to bring up Paramount while accepting the award.
Jennifer Holland mentions Paramount on stage
While accepting the Saturn Award on behalf of Peacemaker (via YouTube), Holland thanked HBO Max, DC Studios, DC Comics, the writers, and artists behind the characters.
She then added, “and probably Paramount because they’re probably going to own us soon is my guess.”
The comment quickly raised eyebrows because Paramount has nothing to do with Peacemaker, which is a Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios production. The Paramount WBD deal is expected to go through later this year.
It also marks one of the first times somebody tied to the DCU has publicly referenced Paramount in connection with the growing talk surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery and David Ellison.
James Gunn has been noticeably quiet online about all of it, which makes Holland’s comment stand out even more. It puts Paramount and DC – and particularly James Gunn – in the same sentence on a very public stage.
The Paramount line is what stands out
Peacemaker winning the Saturn Award gives Gunn and DC Studios a nice headline (however, it lost nearly 40% of its audience and will not be continuing), but Holland’s remark does stand out.
Paramount was not involved with making the series, so thanking Paramount out of nowhere feels like more than a random slip, it feels intentional.
James Gunn, meanwhile, has avoided directly addressing the merger talk despite staying active online (that’s even cooled). He has answered fan questions about DC projects, corrected misinformation, and posted updates from Atlanta, but he has not publicly tackled the Paramount speculation in any real way.
Peter Safran showed up, James Gunn did not
The timing also adds to the speculation.
David Ellison recently met with around 150 Warner Bros. Discovery employees, and Peter Safran was there along with top Warner Bros. film executives Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy. Gunn did not attend.
Interestingly, it was reported that Ellison name-dropped “DC not once but twice and that he is a big DC fan.
Safran’s presence is worth noting because he co-runs DC Studios with Gunn. So when one DC boss is at a major Ellison-related meeting, and the other is absent, people are naturally going to read into it. Holland’s Saturn Awards comment only adds more fuel.
Gunn is in Atlanta on Man of Tomorrow pre-production
As for why Gunn missed the meeting, the likely reason is that he is in Atlanta working on Man of Tomorrow. However, it’s worth noting that he is only prepping and hasn’t started filming.
Gunn recently confirmed he is there for pre-production, and reports say filming is expected to begin next month on April 17, more than a month away.
