DC fans witnessed a whole lot of death in the first season of James Gunn’s series Peacemaker. The Butterfly invasion and the battle against it resulted in a lot of casualties, and it means that we’re not going to see Chukwudi Iwuji, Robert Patrick, Annie Chang and more back in Season 2.
All that being said, there are a number of key characters who are set to make a big return in the new season of the DC streaming series – and in addition to returning stars, the ensemble cast will also include a number of fresh faces. So who exactly can we expect to see in Peacemaker Season 2? We’ve put together this feature to answer that question specifically, and we will continue to update it as we learn more about the upcoming DC show’s development.
John Cena
Shocker, right? The guy who plays the character that the show is named for is coming back to star in the second season of said show. All jokes aside, this will be John Cena’s third round playing Christopher Smith a.k.a. Peacemaker, having debuted as the reformed villain in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad in 2021. In addition to his time kicking ass while wearing a chrome helmet, Cena has kept busy of late starring in the last two Fast & Furious sequels and has been a part of recent WWE events including Wrestlemania XL. He’s also had standout supporting roles in movies including Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle.
Danielle Brooks
In the first season of Peacemaker, Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo held on to a big secret – not letting her teammates know that she is the daughter of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) – but that conflict got resolved in a big way in the finale when she helped reveal Waller’s crimes to the press. Brooks will be back dealing with the aftermath of that decision as Leota in Peacemaker Season 2 following her acclaimed turn as Sofia in Blitz Bazawule’s musical The Color Purple. She also has a part in director Jared Hess’ Minecraft movie (coming in 2025) and Michael Showalter’s new Christmas comedy Oh. What. Fun.
Freddie Stroma
Freddie Stroma proved to be a wonderful scene stealer in Peacemaker Season 1 playing Adrian Chase a.k.a. Vigilante – a wannabe masked hero who has some serious issues regarding violent impulses. The character started the show on the periphery of the main action, but he became a core member of the protagonist team by the end of the finale, and he’s back in action in Peacemaker Season 2. Outside of DC, Stroma is known for playing Prince Friedrich in Season 1 of Bridgerton, and he stars opposite Kevin James in the Netflix series The Crew, which debuted in 2021.
Jennifer Holland
In the last few years, Jennifer Holland has developed a niche for herself as connective tissue in DC Movies and TV – not unlike Clark Gregg’s role as Agent Phil Coulson in early years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Holland, who is married to James Gunn, first played Task Force X agent Emilia Harcourt in The Suicide Squad, and after having a key supporting role in the first season of Peacemaker, she had cameos in both Black Adam and Shazam! Fury Of The Gods. In addition to her time in the world of DC, she has also previously worked with Gunn on David Yarovesky’s Brightburn (which Gunn produced) and 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Steve Agee
Steve Agee doesn’t have quite the same level of clout that Jennifer Holland has in the DC Universe, as John Economos doesn’t make an appearance in Black Adam, but he has otherwise been right by her side since The Suicide Squad (and he does get bonus points for doing the motion capture performance as King Shark in that film). In addition to his time in the world of DC, he’s kept busy on the small screen with roles in a number of TV shows, including Krapopolis, Home Economics, Never Have I Ever and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities.
Sol Rodriguez
Remember those fresh faces I alluded to in my intro? Sol Rodriguez is one of them. After spending her early years starring on Nickelodeon Latin America (namely the series Grachi), she launched her Hollywood career in 2016 with a role on the series Devious Maids. More recently, she has become familiar to geek audiences thanks to her role on Star Trek: Picard – playing Dr. Teresa Ramirez in the Paramount+ show’s second season. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that she was joining the cast of Peacemaker in June 2024, noting that she will be playing Sasha Bordeaux, a Batman supporting character who is trained to be the Dark Knight’s apprentice before being framed for murder and being forced to change her identity after being saved by an independent branch of Task Force X called Checkmate.
The June 2024 trade report that announced Sol Rodriguez as part of the Peacemaker Season 2 cast also noted that the show has added David Denman in “an undisclosed role.” Audiences best know him from his time playing Roy Anderson on The Office, but he has kept busy in both film and television since the end of the acclaimed sitcom with roles in movies like Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky and Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer 3 and shows including Mare Of Easttown and Eric. He previously had the chance to work with James Gunn on Brightburn.
Frank Grillo
Frank Grillo will be playing Rick Flagg Sr. in Peacemaker Season 2, and what makes his part in the live-action show special is that the work will follows Grillo’s upcoming introduction of the character in the animated series Creature Commandos. In addition to the medium change (first reported by Variety in May 2024), it’s notable casting because Christopher Smith memorably killed Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman) in The Suicide Squad. Grillo is presently known to comic book fans for his time playing Brock Rumlow a.k.a. Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but his credits also include two installments of the Purge franchise and Patrick Hughes’ Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.
Tim Meadows
Tim Meadows has an impressive legacy as a comedian – his resume including years on Saturday Night Live and terrific and memorable supporting roles in films like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Popstar: Never Stop Stopping – and now he's bringing his talents to the superhero genre. James Gunn personally announced via Instagram in June 2024 that Meadows has signed on to play ARGUS agent Langston Fleury in Peacemaker Season 2.
Peacemaker Season 2 is now in production, and as noted earlier, we will continue to update this feature as more names are announced as part of the cast. For more about what is on the way from James Gunn and Peter Safran with the DC Universe on the big screen, check out CinemaBlend’s Upcoming DC Movies guide.
