Peacemaker S2 Explores Alternate Realities and Inner Demons

HBO Max unveiled the official trailer for Season 2 of Peacemaker, the Emmy-nominated DC Comics series from James Gunn, at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend. For the first time, we see what’s next for John Cena’s Christopher Smith (a.k.a. Peacemaker) in more detail, and it’s looking to be a lot bigger, weirder, and more emotional.

Season 2 of Peacemaker picks up five months after the opening events of The Suicide Squad (2021), where Peacemaker’s first season took place. In it, Smith barely survives a near-death experience by being shot in the back. He’s then offered a secret mission by the U.S. government, codenamed “Project Butterfly,” and assembles a new squad under the direction of Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), with help from A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos (Steve Agee), NSA agent Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and a new addition, recruit Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

Project Butterfly, however, was not just a normal government mission. The team was sent to deal with an alien race that was invading Earth, in the shape of parasitic butterflies that took over their human hosts. After a bloody showdown on a ranch, the team was victorious over the otherworldly creatures and escaped with their lives, though not all of their body parts or psyches.

Peacemaker now returns, and he’s in a very different DC Universe. Whereas Season 1 of Peacemaker was set in the DCEU, Gunn has set this season in the newly minted DCU of his own “Gods and Monsters” storytelling universe, which he introduced over the weekend. However, he did confirm the events of the first season are canon (outside of cameos from the Justice League characters), with the returning cast of Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, and Freddie Stroma as the fan-favorite, unhinged Vigilante. Also back is Nhut Le as Judomaster, as well as Eagly, Peacemaker’s loyal bald eagle sidekick. Joining the cast this season are Frank Grillo as Rick Flagg Sr., the father of the late Rick Flagg (Taran Killam), killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad. Grillo’s character has taken over A.R.G.U.S. and wants revenge. We also get Tim Meadows as Agent Langston Fleury, Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, and Michael Rooker as Red St. Wild, Eagly’s “nemesis.”

The official synopsis explains that Season 2 has Peacemaker dealing with the emotional repercussions of his past actions and trying to be the hero he always wanted to be. The key line from Cena reads, “I’m still trying to bring peace at any cost—but this time by actually being a hero.” Chris Smith is still running, though now he wants to run toward his heroism.

The earlier teaser for Season 2 was released in May and provided hints and early insights into what’s to come. Set to the music of Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord,” the trailer teased Peacemaker attempting to join the Justice League—Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn) all reprising their roles from Gunn’s Superman—but they quickly shut him down. His short pitch goes about as well as you’d expect.

The trailer also gives us some fun details about the characters. Adebayo is “living in the worst level of Grand Theft Auto,” per Economos. Harcourt has “a particularly severe form of toxic masculinity,” and Vigilante is “now in the food service industry.”

Most surprising? The reveal of a dimensional portal. In one of the most mind-blowing scenes in the trailer, Chris Peacemaker accidentally blunders into a portal that whisks him away into a parallel dimension, where there’s another version of himself. And this version of Peacemaker is beloved, adored, and has already achieved real hero status. Annoyed by his lack of social and romantic success, he wants to stay in this world and see if he can have a better life. But as we know, he’s not quite so easily detached from his past. Harcourt drops a major gut-punch line when she tells him, “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”

James Gunn, who also spoke on the Hall H panel at SDCC, noted how Season 2 of Peacemaker will be focused more on character development. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t just come back every year and they’re the same characters. I want to see change and growth, and sometimes regression,” Gunn said. “Peacemaker is a different guy this year. He’s dealing with the demons that he uncovered from last year and dealing with them. And the world is not accepting him the way he is. They aren’t accepting him as a hero.”

James Gunn’s Peacemaker Season 2 officially premieres August 21, 2025, exclusively on HBO Max.