“It’s as Big as Any Other Four Episodes”

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Season 2 of Peacemaker.]

In Season 2 of the eight-episode HBO Max series Peacemaker, Christopher Smith (John Cena) discovered an alternate world where his father (Robert Patrick) and brother (David Denman) are alive and superheroes, forcing him to face his past and re-evaluate his own reality. At the same time, Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), the new acting director of ARGUS, pursued Peacemaker as a threat after the death of his son, Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman), at his hands, putting pressure on Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) to betray him.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, show creator James Gunn, who also wrote the entire season, discussed why Peacemaker should actually be titled Chris, how far ahead he thinks about the character’s journey, his 30 Seconds to Mars quip in the first episode this season, the fun of bringing Kinnaman into the mix, having John Cena face off with John Cena, just how big the finale will be, and how fans will react to the end of the season.

Collider: First of all, I want to say thank you for Season 2 of Christopher Smith. It’s much appreciated. It feels weird calling this season Peacemaker since it’s such an emotional deep dive this season.

JAMES GUNN: That’s right. I don’t know if you’ve heard me say it, but I think it should be called Chris.

Showrunner James Gunn Has Always Known How the Peacemaker and Harcourt Relationship Would Progress

“I always knew what he was dealing with.”

Image via HBO Max

When you were writing Season 2, how much did you also think about the next few years of the character?

GUNN: Some of it, I thought about, and some of it, I didn’t. I actually know where Peacemaker is going from here, so that was always a part of it. It was just, what’s the road from A to B, and figuring that out through Season 2. I always knew what he was dealing with, and I knew about the relationship between him and Emilia Harcourt and how that was going to progress, and where her character was going. Those were the basic things I knew.

Did you lay breadcrumbs that we should keep an eye out for?

GUNN: I think that by the time you get to the end of the season, you’re going to have a lot of answers. A lot of where we’re going with everything takes place in the last episode.

You wrote these episodes and you directed the first episode, so obviously you’re responsible for the 30 Seconds to Mars quip that’s in there with Harcourt saying “I’m not on good terms with 30 Seconds to Mars. How dare you.” How did that come about?

GUNN: Yep. I just felt mean about the Spin Doctors being thrown in there. I don’t think that was too fair for us to say Spin Doctors. Nothing wrong with the Spin Doctors.

You didn’t have to carry Joel Kinnaman or Rick Flag over from the original Suicide Squad film into yours, but you did, and then you brought him into this season of Peacemaker. Why did you want to keep telling his story?

GUNN: I always knew, from the beginning. Jen [Holland] and I knew that Harcourt and Flag had been having an affair when The Suicide Squad stuff happened. That was her reason for disliking Peacemaker so much, from the very beginning of episode one of Peacemaker. We knew that she had this relationship with him that was not only a sexual relationship, but that’s just the way that they deal with their stuff. It really was a friendship. And so, that was always a plan. And then, adding in geeky Joel Kinnaman was the most fun I had. Joel’s a good friend of mine. He’s an incredibly funny guy, and people don’t know it. He’s literally never been in a comedy. And so, just allowing him to go out there and be this ridiculous, namby-pamby character was so fun for me. When I was writing it, I was just laughing, knowing I would be making Joel do this. And then, Joel just did it perfectly. It’s so good.

Did you have to make sure he was actually able to do it before you wrote it?

GUNN: No, because I know him well enough that I knew he’d be able to do it. I think that he surprised me with how well he was able to do it. He completely just went for it. The scariest part was that I didn’t direct that episode. That was directed by Greg Mottola. Greg’s the one I trust the most out of the other directors, so I thought he would probably be good with it. It’s great. I loved it.

In Season 2, Peacemaker Wonders if He’s Living in the Wrong Reality

“I knew that was going to happen.”

A dimensional portal that leads to 99 other universes in your bedroom seems like both a great and really terrible idea because you might kill your other-dimensional self and have to chop him up and burn the pieces. Were you just looking for the right moment where John Cena would have to murder John Cena?

GUNN: I really wasn’t. It just ended up that way. It’s just where it led to. I knew that was going to happen. I didn’t know it was going to happen so soon in the season when I was first planning it out, but it makes sense. It fuels Chris’ belief that he’s in the wrong world. He is, at his core, a pretty nice guy and that Peacemaker is not, and yet everyone around that Peacemaker is.

I loved that you roped Freddie Stroma into helping John Cena clean up pieces of his own body. He just wants to be the best friend that he can be.

GUNN: Yeah. And Freddie loves doing that. He’s also very excited about an alternate dimension in which he can meet himself. He’s stoked about that. We’ll see how that ends up going for him.

In episode 3, you have a shootout, you have bombs going off, and there’s a helicopter exploding. What is it like to pull all of that off in one episode? Is it easier to go all out and do a ton of wild stuff in one episode because this is a show that you can balance with other episodes that are more character and relationship-based?

GUNN: Totally, yeah. When you see episode 8, it seems like it’s as big as any other four episodes. So, yeah, you do have to balance out throughout the season what you’re spending your money on. Peacemaker is a wild beast to ride because at times it’s very intimate and very personal. It’s two people in a room talking. I think perhaps our best scene of the season is with Jen and John talking for 10 minutes. It’s the much more raw emotional version of the Lois and Clark scene in Superman. But then, at the same time, some of the big stuff is really wonderful too. You’ve just got to balance it out throughout the season.

We see a Hawkgirl, Green Lantern and Maxwell Lord at the beginning of the season, and we see Rick Flag. Will there be more appearances before the end of the season?

GUNN: You’ll see one more character from Superman. There’s also one really big appearance by somebody in the end of the season that I don’t think people will see coming.

Creator James Gunn Says the ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 Finale Is “Bittersweet”

“Bittersweet doesn’t even begin to say how bittersweet it is.”

Image via HBO Max

You mentioned giving a lot of answers this season, but what do you think people will say with the last episode? How do you think fans will react to the season finale?

GUNN: Bittersweet doesn’t even begin to say how bittersweet it is.

Release Date

January 13, 2022

Network

HBO Max, Max

Directors

James Gunn, Brad Anderson, Rosemary Rodriguez

Peacemaker is available to stream on HBO Max. Check out the Season 2 trailer: