“Peacemaker” Season 2 poster image featuring Freddie Stroma, Danielle Brooks, John Cena, Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee.
HBO
James Gunn’s Peacemaker Season 2, starring John Cena, wraps up Thursday, leaving open the big question of whether there will be a third season for the DC Studios series.
The short answer for what’s next for Cena’s Peacemaker/Chris Smith and company is, however, a bit complicated.
Peacemaker, of course, is DC Studios’ spinoff series featuring the musclebound character, who was first introduced in writer-director Gunn’s 2021 antihero movie The Suicide Squad.
Peacemaker Season 1 was released in 2022 and consisted of eight episodes. Set after the events of The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker Season 1 begins with the title character given one of two choices by ARGUS director Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). One, he can return to prison or two, join “Project Butterfly” with ARGUS agents Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee), who played supporting roles in The Suicide Squad.
Among the new characters introduced in Peacemaker Season 1 were Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, who is Waller’s daughter and a member of Project Butterfly; as well as Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase/Vigilante, a skilled but eccentric local hero-worshiper of Peacemaker.
Peacemaker Season 2 kicked off with the first of its eight episodes on Aug. 21. In the episode, Chris discovers the Quantum Unfolding Chamber portal in his late father Auggie’s (Robert Patrick) house, which leads him to the alternate dimension of Earth-2. It’s there where Chris discovers that all the things wrong about Earth-1 have seemingly been set right.
Not only is Auggie — whom he executed at the end of Peacemaker Season 1 — alive on Earth-2 and appears to be a good guy, Chris’ brother, Keith (David Denman), who died in a tragedy on Earth-1 in his youth, is alive. Together, the Earth-2 version of Chris, Auggie and Keith make up a revered superhero trio.
Also, on Earth-2, Chris’ relationship with Harcourt is a lot healthier than it is on Earth-1. Chris, in fact, seems content with taking up permanent residence in Earth-2 — that is, until the big reveal in Episode 6, where he, Adebayo, Harcourt, Vigilante and Economos shockingly discover that Earth-2 is a world where the U.S. is under Nazi rule.
Chris and the group find their way out of Earth-2 in Episode 7, leading to his arrest and the lead-in to Episode 8 — the events of which will be revealed when the episode airs on Thursday night.
John Cena in “Peacemaker” Season 2.
HBO/Erin Sintoes
James Gunn Says Some ‘Peacemaker’ Characters Will Be Seen Again, But ‘Not Exactly’ In A Third Season
James Gunn has long touted Peacemaker Season 2 as a season that will help build the foundation for the new DC Universe of movies and television shows. One thing he hasn’t been clear about is the idea of a Peacemaker Season 3 being part of the DCU.
Then, in a Sept. 27 interview with Deadline, Gunn gave some clarity about the future of Peacemaker as a standalone series, which essentially was that Season 3 would not be happening — for now. He did have one upside to report: Some of the familiar faces from Peacemaker will be seen again as the new DCU develops.
“Some of these characters will continue, but also, it’s not exactly Peacemaker [Season] 3,” Gunn told Deadline. “I’m not ruling it out. You’ll see [Episode] 8 and maybe find out a little bit more.”
Gunn, of course, has already woven in different characters from his new DCU to enhance shows like Peacemaker Season 2. Episode 1 of the new season featured cameo appearances by Green Lantern member Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn) from Superman, while the filmmaker made Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) from the summer movie one of Peacemaker Season 2’s pivotal characters. In addition, in Episode 6, Superman’s chief nemesis, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), turned up again, albeit behind bars.
Right now, there will be plenty of opportunities on film for some of the characters in Peacemaker Season 2 to resurface. DC’s Supergirl is set for release in theaters in June of 2026, while Clayface will follow a few months later in September and the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow is set for a July 9, 2027, release. In addition, the yet-to-be-dated Lanterns series is coming to HBO Max sometime in 2026.
If anything, the characters from Peacemaker — most logically — could turn up in DC’s Amanda Waller spinoff series starring Viola Davis, but that show is still in development.
Peacemaker Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on HBO Max, with Season 2, Episode 8 joining the lineup on Thursday night.