SDCC Unveils Peacemaker Season 2 Trailer: What It All Means

Peacemaker fans received a fresh dose of lunacy this past weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, where HBO Max unveiled the full-length trailer for the Emmy-nominated DC antihero series Season 2. Director James Gunn returned to the Hall H stage to debut the new trailer (above), giving fans the first extended look at what to expect when Season 2 returns this fall, and it’s set to be the biggest, weirdest, and most emotional season yet.

Based on The Suicide Squad (2021) events, the eight-episode first season took place five months after the events of the Corto Maltese mission, and with Smith on the brink of death from a near-fatal gunshot wound, Peacemaker returns to work for the U.S. government. Smith’s new assignment is an underground mission called “Project Butterfly,” where he joins a new team of operatives that includes Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) in charge, along with A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos (Steve Agee), NSA agent Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and a recruit named Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

Project Butterfly is revealed to be more than just a standard government mission. Instead, the team is assigned to stop a threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered before—an alien species of parasitic butterflies that have been invading Earth by taking over human bodies. By the end of Season 1, Peacemaker and his misfit team were able to take down the alien threat in a bloody battle on a ranch, but not without losing friends and most of their bodies along the way.

With Season 2, Peacemaker returns to the DC Universe with a major difference. The first season existed within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and its larger cinematic universe, but Gunn’s standalone, “Gods and Monsters” storytelling slate created a newly minted DCU when Peacemaker first premiered. Gunn confirmed that while Season 2 of Peacemaker exists in this newly rebooted DCU, he confirmed the events of the previous season and first film—sans some brief post-credits cameo from the members of the Justice League—are all canon.

Peacemaker Season 2 returns its full main cast from Season 1, including Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, and Freddie Stroma as fan-favorite psycho superhero Vigilante. Nhut Le will also return as Judomaster, in addition to Eagly, Peacemaker’s comic-accurate, adoring bald eagle sidekick. Returning characters from past DC films make an appearance as well, with Robert Patrick reprising the role as Peacemaker’s deceased father, Auggie Smith. Fresh faces this season include Frank Grillo as Rick Flagg Sr., the father of the late Rick Flagg, who was killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad. Grillo’s character is now at the helm of A.R.G.U.S., and he’s out for revenge. Tim Meadows will play the part of Agent Langston Fleury, while Sol Rodriguez will star as Sasha Bordeaux. Also joining this season will be Michael Rooker as Red St. Wild, Eagly’s “nemesis.”

Officially, the synopsis states Season 2 will continue to find Chris Smith battling not only with the emotional baggage of his violent past but also his desire to become a better person. He’s still trying to find peace—but now he wants to earn it through heroism instead of blindly following orders.

A teaser was released back in May, offering the first glimpse at the insanity that is Season 2 of Peacemaker. Set to the tune of Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord,” the footage depicts a failed attempt by Chris to join the Justice League, including Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), all reprising their roles from Superman. His cringe-inducing attempt at a pitch goes over like a lead balloon, of course.

The teaser also offered amusing updates on familiar characters. Adebayo, it turns out, has managed to get herself “living in the worst level of Grand Theft Auto,” according to Economos. Harcourt is apparently “suffering from a particularly severe form of toxic masculinity,” while Vigilante has become “employed in the food service industry.”

The trailer’s most jaw-dropping reveal was a dimensional portal. Chris takes a wrong turn through a portal and arrives in a parallel universe where he encounters a version of himself already a hero. Frustrated with his lack of success and relationship failures in his world, he briefly considers staying in this alternate universe. But of course, his past isn’t done with him just yet. Harcourt has some words of wisdom as she tries to talk him out of staying in this other world: “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”

During the Hall H panel at SDCC, Gunn said the second season of Peacemaker would continue to focus on the title character’s development. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t just come back every season, and they’re the same characters, in the same place they were the year before, and nothing happened to them,” Gunn said. “I want to see growth. I want to see change. I want to see, sometimes, regression, and regression and change, and sometimes, I like characters to get worse. Peacemaker is a different guy this year. He’s dealing with demons from the last year, the demons he opened up in the first season, and he’s trying to reconcile with them and deal with them, and the world he’s in is not accepting him the way he is, is not accepting him as a hero.”

Season 2 of Peacemaker returns this fall to HBO Max on August 21, 2025.