Reference Link: https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/07/peacemaker-s2-trailer-finds-our-anti-hero-in-a-parallel-world/

The full-length trailer for Season 2 of Peacemaker, the Emmy-nominated DC spinoff series from James Gunn, premiered at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend. HBO Max first screened the trailer ahead of the Hall H presentation of the new season, marking the first extended look at the much-anticipated second installment of the Peacemaker story and offering fans their first look at what’s to come.

Peacemaker is a DC Comics antihero and vigilante superhero whose weapons of choice include both a big ol’ handgun and a machine gun stapled to his wrist. Played by WWE superstar John Cena, Peacemaker first appeared in The Suicide Squad (2021) but returned for a full series, as well as an appearance in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdoms (2023).

Season 1 followed the events of The Suicide Squad, taking place five months after the mission to Corto Maltese and Chris Smith’s subsequent near-death experience (saved from a gunshot wound to the head by Amanda Waller, he’s nursed back to health and placed back into action by the U.S. government). The season had Smith thrown into a new covert operation titled “Project Butterfly” and a new team, led by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), and supported by A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos (Steve Agee), NSA agent Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and newly minted recruit Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

It turned out that Project Butterfly wasn’t your standard-issue U.S. government mission, however. Their task: to stop an alien species—in the form of parasitic butterflies—that had come to Earth and gained the ability to inhabit the bodies of human hosts. Though our heroes manage to save the world from the murderous insects (after a bloody conflict in the middle of a ranch), they are hardly unscathed in body or spirit.

Now, Peacemaker is back for more (we hope) in an entirely new DC Universe. Gunn’s creative slate of DC-based content, including Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad and as well as the upcoming Superman film, has operated in a freshly made-over DCU since the premiere of Gunn’s own “Gods and Monsters” summer blockbuster. Gunn did confirm, though, that past events will remain in canon save for a few cameos by established members of the Justice League.

In addition to Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, and a particular personal favorite of ours, Freddie Stroma as the batshit crazy Vigilante, the cast also returns with Nhut Le as Judomaster and Eagly, the Peacemaker’s loyal, bald eagle sidekick. Robert Patrick, who played Peacemaker’s late father, Auggie Smith, in the first season, will be reprising his role as well. Several new faces will be featured as well, including Frank Grillo as Rick Flagg Sr., the father of deceased Rick Flagg, who was killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad. Grillo will be playing Flagg, who is now the head of A.R.G.U.S., and is out for vengeance against Cena’s Peacemaker. Others to join this season include Tim Meadows as agent Langston Fleury, Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, and Michael Rooker as Red St. Wild, who is described in the synopsis as Eagly’s “nemesis.”

The official synopsis reads: “This season, Chris Smith must confront the emotional and physical repercussions of his bloody past while also reckoning with his newfound urge to become a better person. He still believes in achieving peace at all costs—but now he wants it to be earned through heroics, not blind obedience.”

A teaser trailer released earlier in May gave early viewers a taste of the kind of head-scratching insanity to come, as well as a few first glimpses at what we can expect. Set to the appropriately over-the-top tune by Foxy Shazam, “Oh Lord,” the footage teases a humorous aborted attempt by Chris to join the Justice League, featuring Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), all of whom are reprising their roles from Gunn’s own Superman. His corny introduction, which involves way too much forced self-deprecation, unsurprisingly doesn’t go over well.

The teaser also offered a few good updates on where each of the Peacemaker cast members is at post-Season 1. According to Economos, Adebayo is now “living in the worst level of Grand Theft Auto.” Harcourt, meanwhile, has a “particularly severe form of toxic masculinity,” while Vigilante has found new employment in the food service industry.

The big surprise from the trailer? A rip in the space-time continuum. Peacemaker has somehow stumbled through a dimensional portal into a parallel universe where he’s met a version of himself that’s already achieved success—and notoriety—as a true and beloved hero. Frustrated with both his own relative obscurity and romantic relationship (or lack thereof) in his dimension, Chris is tempted to stay in this world. (Is there any other option for Peacemaker? Of course not. His past will not let him go. Harcourt reminds him: “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”)

Gunn, who gave a speech from the Hall H stage at SDCC after the premiere, said that the big focus for Season 2 would be on character growth. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t just return every season and they’re the same characters,” Gunn said. “I want to see growth. I want to see change—and sometimes regression. Peacemaker is a different guy this year. He’s dealing with the demons that he kind of unearthed at the end of the first season, and trying to deal with them, and the world is not accepting him the way he is. They aren’t accepting him as a hero.”

Peacemaker Season 2 premieres August 21, 2025, exclusively on HBO Max.