James Gunn, John Cena, and a collection of other actors from Peacemaker flew in to SDCC to offer a preview of the HBO Max series’ second season, which will serve as the third entry in James Gunn’s revamped version of the DC cinematic universe. The event opened with an exclusive trailer that helps ground the narrative within the larger DCU while maintaining the character-driven action that has helped Gunn’s superhero treatments stand out from the crowd.
The new trailer, now publicly available below, depicts Peacemaker being hunted by Rick Flag Senior (who appeared in last month’s Superman), for killing his son in the 2021 The Suicide Squad movie (also written and directed by Gunn). The solution to his woes seemingly appears when he finds a portal to another dimension (the same one Gunn’s new Superman movie takes place in) where everything seems perfect; his father is no longer a Neo-Nazi supervillain, his love interest reciprocates his feelings, and his wardrobe even seems cleaner. The other universe is “just like ours, but better in every way” in Peacemaker’s words. But the moral absolutist superhero may not be able to outrun the consequences of his own actions, especially if the Peacemaker of the other universe (also played by Cena) has anything to say about it.
He’s dealing with the demons he’s sort of uncovered from the first season,” Gunn said about the character,” and the world is not accepting him the way he is.”
Gunn also answered a few questions about the connections between Peacemaker and Superman, teasing the appearance of multiple Superman characters in the first episode, such as Green Lantern Guy Gardner and Wonder Woman villain Maxwell Lord. The series will reportedly take place a month after Superman, with the events of the movie leading into Peacemaker. New to the party is Sasha Bordeaux, a recurring cyborg in DC comics.
“It’s such an honor to be a part of this show. I did all the research I could do online and prepare,” actress Sol Rodriguez said, describing an extensive list of questions she wrote to ask James Gunn about her character before deleting it.
One thing the Peacemaker cast didn’t show, however, was the updated opening for season two, which quickly became one of the series’ hallmarks after the first season’s release. Gunn emphasized that what made the intro special was that it caught everyone off-guard, choosing to preserve the mystery — though he iterated that there would be a new song and a new dance.
The only teaser came from actress Jennifer Holland, who plays Harcourt on the show. “I said, Universe, please allow me to do the lift from Dirty Dancing, and I did. I did do it,” Holland said. Audiences were also privy to another scene from season two in which Harcourt gets into a fight with a group of bikers at a dive bar.
Gunn thanked audiences for the response to Superman, and for what he called “my best day in a year,” teasing that the best surprises were yet to come. “We shot something on episode eight which was maybe my favorite day on set.”
Season two of Peacemaker will premiere on August 12th on HBO Max.
Photo credit: Adam Soukup
