Peacemaker Season 2: Everything We Know About Casting, Filming, the New Opening Credits and More
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As we type, James Gunn is nearing the finish line when it comes to writing the last script for Peacemaker Season 2. So, when might fans expect the DC series back on their screens? And who will be in it?
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Peacemaker premiered on what was then known as HBO Max on Jan. 13, 2022, with its first three episodes, followed by weekly releases building to a Feb. 17 finale. TVLine readers gave those 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 back in February 2022, just hours before its freshman finale premiered.
“Creating Peacemaker has been one of the true highlights of my life, both professionally and otherwise, with John Cena and the incredible creative team around me, as well as our partners at [Max],” executive producer Gunn said in a statement. “To have something we all love so much be loved by the audience in turn has been a wonderful experience. I can’t wait for folks to see where Team Peacemaker goes in Season 2!”
Since the news of Peacemaker‘s renewal, though, 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: Legacy… and the timetable for 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….
Will James Gunn Write and/or Direct Any of 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 will 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.
Greg Mottola (Superbad, The Daytrippers) is confirmed to be directing 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!”
When Will Filming Start on Season 2?
On March 9, Jennifer Holland, who plays Emilia Harcourt, confirmed in her Instagram comments that filming will begin in the summer of 2024.
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: Legacy, and then came the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Cameras will start rolling on Superman: Legacy in March 2024, and once production on that big-screen foray is complete, Gunn’s next priority as a creative will be Peacemaker Season 2.
“I’ll go straight from Superman to Peacemaker,” Gunn has said.
Does Peacemaker Season 2 Have a Release Date?
We are a long ways from having any rough ballpark for Peacemaker’s return date.
But this much we know: Peacemaker Season 2 will come out after the Viola Davis-led Amanda Waller TV series that was announced back in January 2023 as part of Gunn’s new DCU. (The first TV series in that new DCU, though, will be the animated Creature Commandos, due for a late 2024 release.)
Gunn has also said that Peacemaker Season 2 “is coming out after [Superman:] Legacy,” which currently has a theatrical release date of July 11, 2025.
What Is Peacemaker Season 2 About?
Details are scarce on the Season 2 Peacemaker storyline. In fact, Gunn has said that the aforementioned Waller series will more immediately follow up on the events of Peacemaker Season 1.
“We have two great creatives working on [Waller]: Christal Henry, who was a writer on Watchmen, and Jeremy Carver who created Doom Patrol,” Gunn said.
Steve Agee, who has played John Economos in Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and then Peacemaker Season 1, is confirmed to also reprise that role in Waller.
Which Cast Is Returning for Season 2?
Front man John Cena is officially confirmed out loud to return for Peacemaker Season 2, as is Freddie Stroma (as antihero fanboy Vigilante) — though it’d be no great stretch to assume that Danielle Brooks (as Amanda Waller’s daughter Leota Adebayo), Jennifer Holland (as Agent Emilia Harcourt) and Steve Agee (as Economos) will also reprise their Season 1 roles.
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?
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 recent film release Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom marked the final entry in the pre-Gunn/Safran DC Universe that has been unspooling over the past decade or so.
Starting with TV’s (animated) Creature Commandos (due for a 2024 Max release) and 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?
One fan asked Gunn such a question on Threads: “Will Season 2 of Peacemaker take place in the new DCU/new continuity? Or will it at least be addressed?” Gunn replied, “Yes and yes.”
When another fan followed up by asking, “Won’t it be confusing having a 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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