Cena’s Peacemaker Struggles With Purpose in S2 Trailer

Comic-Con in San Diego this past weekend saw HBO Max premiere the first official trailer for the highly anticipated Season 2 of Peacemaker, the Emmy-nominated DC spinoff series from James Gunn. The new footage confirms what we already knew and expands on more as it shows Peacemaker ramping up the craziness and getting much more emotional this season.

Peacemaker Season 2 picks up after the events of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021), and, like the first season, takes place five months after the failed Corto Maltese mission that nearly saw Smith killed by a gunshot wound. Picked up by the U.S. government for a new “secret mission” code-named “Project Butterfly,” Peacemaker teams up with a new group of misfits assembled by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) and protected by an A.R.G.U.S. agent (Steve Agee) and an NSA agent (Jennifer Holland). The new team is led by Murn, with Smith (John Cena), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos (Steve Agee), and new member Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

Their mission: hunt down and stop an alien species (parasitic butterflies) that, having invaded our planet by taking over and inhabiting human hosts, now must be stopped. Project Butterfly is not the secret operation it was initially cracked up to be, however, with our team of unlikely heroes finding themselves taking on the creatures in a blood-drenched climax in a ranch on the outskirts of town, just about managing to save themselves and the world—but, in classic comic book style, not without some heavy casualties and a few wounded hearts.

Peacemaker returns to a changed DC Universe this season. While Season 1 played out inside what had been the DCEU—which died a messy death after 2021’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League—Season 2 of Peacemaker exists within the newly rechristened DCU, which Gunn himself officially rolled out as part of his “Gods and Monsters” slate of storytelling earlier this year. Gunn has confirmed, however, that most of what has gone before—including all the action in Season 1, and most of the cameos by Justice League members—will remain canon.

Back for a second helping are Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, Freddie Stroma as the fan-favorite lunatic, Vigilante, and Nhut Le as Judomaster, and also Eagly, Peacemaker’s faithful bald eagle. Robert Patrick returns as the late, great Auggie Smith, Peacemaker’s father, whose spirit hovers over much of his son’s dealings in the aftermath of Season 1. Frank Grillo makes his first appearance as Rick Flagg Sr., the father of the late Rick Flagg, the father-killing mercenary killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad. Grillo’s character is the current head of A.R.G.U.S. and wants revenge. New additions this season include Tim Meadows as agent Langston Fleury, Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, and Michael Rooker as Red St. Wild. The character of Red St. Wild is described as Eagly’s “nemesis.”

The official synopsis has this to say about Season 2: “In Season 2, Chris Smith still has to live with the emotional fallout of his last job. But this time, he has to live with the heavy burden of a new emotion he’s never felt before. He still wants to make the world a better place at all costs—but this time, he’s going to try to make the world a better place by being a hero.”

A teaser trailer released back in May offered a first taste of the insanity and high stakes in store for the second season of Peacemaker. Set to music by Foxy Shazam, the Oh Lord,” the video included some great new footage from the upcoming season including Peacemaker’s failed attempt to join the Justice League—which features Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), all reprising their roles from James Gunn’s Superman. His pitch to the League to be the next member was awkward and failed, naturally.

The teaser also gave us character updates, including Adebayo being now “living in the worst level of Grand Theft Auto,” according to Economos. Harcourt is said to be dealing with “a particularly severe form of toxic masculinity”, while Vigilante has become a pizza-delivery boy.

The most interesting and mind-blowing moment from the trailer? The dimensional portal that Peacemaker stumbles across. In it, Chris finds himself in another dimension, and one where he meets another version of himself—one that is already a much-loved and popular hero. Peacemaker is clvid about his lack of romantic success and lack of recognition in this life—and he is ready to stay in this other universe to be this other version of himself. But, of course, Chris can’t leave it at that, and the demons of the past that he uncovered in Season 1 won’t let him go. Harcourt, in a grave and meaningful warning, tells Peacemaker, “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”

Director James Gunn—who was on hand to speak at the Hall H panel for SDCC—says Season 2 is all about Peacemaker changing, or trying to change. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t come back every year, and they are the exme characters,” Gunn said. “I like to see people evolve and change. I want to see growth in the characters I write. Regression too. Peacemaker is a different guy this season. He’s facing the things that we learned about him in the last season, and he’s trying to become a better person and better hero. And the world he lives in doesn’t see him that way.”

The new Season 2 of Peacemaker can’t come soon enough.

Peacemaker Season 2 premieres August 21, 2025, exclusively on HBO Max.