HBO Max Unleashes Peacemaker S2 Trailer at SDCC

HBO Max kicked off San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend with the official release of the full-length trailer for Season 2 of Peacemaker, the Emmy-nominated DC spinoff series from director James Gunn. The trailer is the first extended look at what’s in store for John Cena’s Christopher Smith, also known as Peacemaker, and if it’s any indication, this season is going to be bigger, weirder, and more emotional than ever before.

Season 1 of Peacemaker took place five months after the events of The Suicide Squad (2021), with Smith narrowly surviving a near-fatal gunshot from his hit on King Shark. Smith was then recruited by the U.S. government to be part of a secret mission codenamed “Project Butterfly,” leading a new team assembled by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) and supported by A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos (Steve Agee), NSA agent Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and a new team recruit Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

It turns out, however, that Project Butterfly is no ordinary government team-up operation. The group was tasked with stopping an alien threat that comes in the form of parasitic, extraterrestrial butterflies that have been invading Earth by crawling inside and possessing human hosts. The team defeats the monsters in a bloody mission across a ranch, managing to escape with their lives but not without some serious injuries and emotional trauma.

This new version of the Peacemaker saga will see the show return to a DCU that has been completely changed. While Season 1 of Peacemaker existed in the DCEU (the universe shared by the now-defunct D.C. Extended Universe films), Season 2 now takes place in the newly launched DCU proper, as part of James Gunn’s “Gods and Monsters” slate of DC stories, which Gunn recently introduced himself.

Gunn did confirm, however, that previous events still count as canon, except for some cameo shots that the show is expected to include from other members of the Justice League. Season 1’s full cast is back for Season 2, including Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, and Freddie Stroma as the fan-favorite, cuckoo, and homicidal Vigilante. Also returning for Season 2 is Nhut Le as Judomaster, along with Eagly, Peacemaker’s loyal bald eagle sidekick. Robert Patrick also reprises his role as Peacemaker’s dead father, Auggie Smith, whose memory and presence continue to haunt Chris. Frank Grillo is a new addition for this season as Rick Flagg Sr., the father of the late Rick Flagg, who was killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad. Grillo’s Flagg has since risen to the position of leading A.R.G.U.S. and is out for revenge. Other new cast members include Tim Meadows as agent Langston Fleury, Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, and Michael Rooker as Red St. Wild, Eagly’s “nemesis.”

According to an official synopsis, Season 2 of Peacemaker will put the character at odds with his violent past, which he now has to deal with, and also his conflicting, yet growing desire to be a better person. He is still out there for peace at all costs—but this time, he wants to earn it by proving himself through being a hero instead of just following orders blindly.

A short teaser for the season was released back in May, which offered some of the first impressions of what’s to come in this new season. Set to the tune of Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord,” the teaser included some of Chris’s failed attempt to audition for a spot in the Justice League—which also includes Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn) in cameo roles, reprising their characters from Gunn’s Superman. His pitch is, of course, a complete flop.

The teaser also revealed some fun tidbits about each of the returning cast members’ characters in the meantime. Adebayo is reportedly now “living in the worst level of Grand Theft Auto,” according to Economos. Harcourt is said to be suffering from “a particularly severe form of toxic masculinity,” while Vigilante has since been reduced to working in the food service industry.

The biggest surprise reveal from the trailer, however? The appearance of a dimensional portal. In a wild twist of events, Chris finds himself stumbling across a wormhole to an alternate dimension, where he is then greeted by another version of himself. This alternate version of Peacemaker is already a true hero in his world—and much loved and celebrated by all. So much so that Chris, who is still salty over never having his moment as a hero in his world and for still not being able to woo Adebayo, decides to stay. But as we all know, and as the trailer seems to suggest, the past can’t be that easily escaped. Harcourt, in a brief but rather somber line from the trailer, points out to Chris that, “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”

James Gunn himself, who spoke during the Hall H panel during SDCC, says Season 2 is all about characters and growing as a person. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t just come back next season, and they’re the same characters that they were last season,” Gunn explained in a statement. “I want to see them grow, I want to see them change—and sometimes I want to see them regress. Peacemaker is a different guy this year. He’s a guy who’s dealing with the demons that he unearthed last season and is trying to grapple with and work with, and the world he’s in is not accepting him the way he is. They aren’t accepting him as a hero.”

Season 2 of Peacemaker will premiere on August 21, 2025, exclusively on HBO Max.