‘Peacemaker’ Director James Gunn Engaged to Series Star Jennifer Holland

Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn has more to celebrate than just the success of his new DC Comics series Peacemaker. Gunn and Jennifer Holland, who played Emilia Harcourt in Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad, are engaged. The two have been together since 2015 and were reportedly introduced by Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum.

Gunn, 55, shared the news on Instagram Sunday, posting a photo of Holland drinking a cup of coffee and showing off her engagement ring. Holland, 34, also posted a photo of the two with a rainbow behind them. “Happiness,” she simply wrote.

Holland grew up near Chicago and moved to Los Angeles at 17. She scored a handful of small roles, winding up in direct-to-video movies like The Sisterhood, House of the Dead 2, and American Pie Presents The Book of Love, as well as one-time parts in police procedurals. In 2015, she met Gunn through Rosenbaum, who was dating one of Holland’s friends at the time. Gunn saw Holland in one of Rosenbaum’s photos and asked her who she was. Rosenbaum offered to set them up, and she agreed to meet. Even though Guardians of the Galaxy had made Gunn a star the previous summer, she didn’t know who he was, she told The Hollywood Reporter.

“She described James as a producer-director. I guess the fact that she put producer first or something, it just kind of gave me weird vibes,” Holland recalled. After she watched his interviews for Guardians though, she changed her mind. When they finally met, they instantly clicked. “We spent like seven hours together and that’s it. That’s how it started,” she told THR.

While Gunn continued to fly high thanks to the Guardians movies, Holland’s career hit another snag after Sun Records only ran for one season. While writing The Suicide Squad, Gunn finally found a role perfect for Holland, Emilia Harcourt. Then, when Warner Bros. gave Gunn the green light to make an HBO Max series centered around John Cena’s Peacemaker, he made Harcourt one of the main characters.

Peacemaker has been a surprise success, earning critical acclaim and winning a second season. The show’s Season 1 finale was released last week. It’s been rumored that Harcourt could also appear in Black Adam starring Dwayne Johnson. Gunn refused to confirm that, but he recently noted that Warner Bros. could use these characters however they want, reports ComicBook.com.

This is Holland’s first marriage. Gunn was previously married to The Office star Jenna Fischer from 2000 to 2008. They did not have any children together.