Peacemaker Returns: First Season 2 Footage Includes Peek at Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. — WATCH
Peacemaker and friends are back in action in a first look at Season 2 of the DC Studios series, included as part of the new Max sizzle reel below.
The fleeting glimpses of Peacemaker’s return include Chris Smith and his helmeted alter ego (played by John Cena); Freddie Stroma’s Vigilante; Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr. (the father of Joel Kinnaman’s character from the two Suicide Squad films); a longer-haired Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and more.
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Peacemaker premiered back on Jan. 13, 2022, on what was then known as HBO Max, and its freshman finale dropped that Feb. 17. TVLine readers gave its first three episodes an average grade of “A,” which is also what the finale and all of Season 1 earned.
Peacemaker was renewed for Season 2 in February 2022, just hours before its freshman finale dropped.
Since the news of Peacemaker‘s renewal, series creator James Gunn was named co-CEO of DC Studios (alongside producing partner Peter Safran)… he decided to tackle writing and directing his new DCU’s first feature film, Superman… and the timetable for so, so many things got waylaid by the writer and actor strikes of 2023.
Here is everything we currently know about Peacemaker Season 2, and where things stand….
Did James Gunn Write and/or Direct Peacemaker Season 2?
Gunn wrote all eight episodes of Peacemaker Season 1 and directed five (including the premiere). The Season 2 renewal announcement initially said that Gunn would direct and write all Season 2 episodes, of which there are again eight.
But in March, Gunn wrote on Threads, “In the interest of getting the show out there, I won’t be able to direct them all (only some).” He also confirmed he had written all eight episodes after calling Episode 8 “a banger” in a separate Threads post in January.
One of the “some” that Gunn directed involves Frank Grillo’s character, who is described further down.
Greg Mottola (Superbad, The Daytrippers), meanwhile, directed Episodes 2 and 3 of the second season.
“Ever since seeing Daytrippers back in the ‘90s at Film Forum in NY, I’ve been a huge Greg Mottola fan — through Superbad and so much more,” Gunn shared on Threads. “When we needed a director for Episodes 2 and 3 … he was the first person I thought of. Can’t wait for you guys to see what we’re cooking!”
Is Season 2 Done Filming?
Back in August 2022, Gunn said the plan was for scripts to be done and the cameras to get rolling “in 2023.” Two months later, though, Gunn was named co-CEO of DC Studios. Not long after that, he announced he would be writing Superman: Legacy, the first feature film in his and Safran’s new DC Universe. Come March 2023, Gunn decided he would also direct Superman, and then came the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Cameras started rolling on Superman in March 2024; once that film wraps, “I’ll go straight from Superman to Peacemaker,” Gunn said.
On March 9, Jennifer Holland, who plays Peacemaker‘s Emilia Harcourt, confirmed in her Instagram comments that filming would begin in the summer of 2024. Filming wrapped in late November.
Does Peacemaker Season 2 Have a Release Date?
Peacemaker Season 2 was originally in queue to come out after the Viola Davis-led Amanda Waller TV series that was announced in January 2023 as part of Gunn’s new DCU.
But a lot has changed since then, as Gunn penned and filmed his Superman feature film.
Waller still remains in “active development,” and Peacemaker is now set to release after Superman hits theaters — meaning, after July 11, 2025.
Peacemaker Season 2 is now on track for an August 2025 premiere.
The first TV series in the new DCU, though, will be the animated Creature Commandos, which premieres Thursday, Dec. 5, on Max.
What Is Peacemaker Season 2 About?
Details are thus far scarce on the Season 2 Peacemaker storyline, but “It essentially picks up where Season 1 left off,” Gunn has said, “with a couple minor differences.”
Which Cast Is Returning for Season 2?
Front man John Cena of course returned for Peacemaker Season 2, as did Freddie Stroma (as antihero fanboy Vigilante), Danielle Brooks (as Amanda Waller’s daughter Leota Adebayo), Jennifer Holland (as Agent Emilia Harcourt) and Steve Agee (as Economos).
Among non-human cast, Gunn shared on Threads that Peacemaker’s pet eagle, Eagly (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), will return for Season 2.
Who Is New for Season 2?
MCU vet Frank Grillo (aka Brock Rumlow/Crossbones in multiple Marvel films) will play Rick Flag Sr. — the dad of the Suicide Squad films’ late Rick Flag Jr. (who was played by Joel Kinnaman). Grillo also voices Flagg Sr. in Max’s Creature Commandos, as Gunn is committed to having voice actors also play role sin live action when possible.
David Denman (The Office) will fill an undisclosed role, per The Hollywood Reporter, while Sol Rodriguez (Star Trek: Picard) has been cast as Sasha Bordeaux (a Batman ally in the DC comics).
James Gunn also shared on Threads that SNL alum Tim Meadows will play ARGUS agent Langston Fleury.
Will the Opening Credits Dance Number Change?
In a word, “Yes.”
Barging into each episode with the first yelps of Wig Wam’s “Do Ya Wanna Taste It,” the 90-second song-and-awkward dance number — choreographed by Charissa-Lee Barton, directed by Gunn and filmed with the entire cast over one day in a high school auditorium — Peacemaker‘s Season 1 opening credits instantly became iconic and quite unskippable.
But due to several storyline-dictated “exits” as Season 1 drew to a close, Season 2 will have to kick off its episodes with something different.
“New cast. Got to,” Gunn explained on Threads, noting that Barton will return to choreograph the new opening number.
As to whether Wig Wam’s “Do Ya Wanna Taste It” will remain the opening needle drop, Gunn has hedged, “You’ll have to wait and see…”
Is Season 2 Part of the ‘New DCU’?
The film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom marked the final entry in the pre-Gunn/Safran DC Universe that had been unspooling over the past decade or so.
Starting with TV’s (animated) Creature Commandos (premieering Dec. 5 on Max) and then the film Superman (in theaters July 11, 2025), Gunn and Safran’s vision for the new DCU will take shape.
But seeing as Peacemaker — already an offshoot of Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, and as made especially clear by the Aquaman/Jason Momoa and Flash/Ezra Miller cameos in its Season 1 finale — was squarely set in the old DCU, what’s the plan for Season 2?
For one, Gunn has revealed that said Justice League cameo won’t be canon to his new DCU. “They don’t exist yet,” he explained.
When a fan asked Gunn on Threads, “Won’t it be confusing having a [Peacemaker] Season 2 [in a] different universe? Why not just have it be a new show?,” Gunn answered: “Because it’s my favorite thing to do, it’s the biggest original Max show ever, and I have a way in. It wont be confusing.”
Want scoop on Peacemaker, or for any other DC TV series ? Email InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
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