S2 Trailer for Peacemaker Promises Bigger Action and Bigger Emotions

HBO Max sent Comic-Con faithful into a frenzy this past weekend, dropping the first official trailer for Season 2 of Peacemaker, the Emmy-nominated DC action series from James Gunn. The full-length trailer is the first look at what’s in store for John Cena’s antihero, Christopher Smith a.k.a. Peacemaker, this season, and Gunn’s baroque DC series is bigger, weirder, and more emotional.

The series, which is set five months after the events of The Suicide Squad (2021), followed Peacemaker and his gun-toting, foot-stomping, flag-waving idiocy through eight episodes in his first season, which ended with Smith barely surviving a near-fatal gunshot wound. The government, which drafts Smith into a secret mission codenamed “Project Butterfly” to test an experimental hyper-violet propellant weapon, only accepts his participation if he can find a team to go with him. He forms a new team, helmed by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), with support from A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos (Steve Agee), NSA agent Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and recruit Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

Project Butterfly, the mission, is revealed to be anything but a standard government intervention. The team is charged with stopping an alien parasitic butterfly species, which has invaded Earth by possessing human bodies. In a bloody battle on a ranch, the group manages to take down the bugs and makes it out alive, but only barely. The season’s end finds everyone seriously injured, physically and emotionally.

But Season 1 of Peacemaker took place in the DCEU, which is officially a defunct universe now. Gunn confirmed that events from this season will take place in the newly relaunched DCU, which he officially introduced earlier in “Gods and Monsters,” his slate of DCEU spinoffs. Gunn added that the events of this season are canon, aside from the expected Justice League cameo.

The major returning players on Peacemaker this season include Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, and Freddie Stroma, who returned to the series as the fan-favorite Psycho baddie Vigilante. Nhut Le returns as Judomaster, and Eagly, Peacemaker’s loyal bald eagle sidekick, reprises her role from The Suicide Squad. Robert Patrick also returns to the DCU as Peacemaker’s dead father, Auggie Smith. The major new additions to the series include Frank Grillo as Rick Flagg Sr., who is revealed to be the father of the late Rick Flagg (Danielle LaPorte), who was killed by Peacemaker in Gunn’s Suicide Squad. Grillo’s Flagg is the director of A.R.G.U.S. and is hell-bent on revenge for his son’s murder. Season 2 also adds Tim Meadows as agent Langston Fleury, Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, and Michael Rooker as Red St. Wild, who is described as Eagly’s “nemesis.”

The official synopsis for the season confirms Gunn’s previous assertions: This season, Chris Smith is battling not only the emotional baggage that comes with his murderous past, but also with the desire to be a better person. He still has a goal of world peace by any means necessary—but this time, he’s hoping to find redemption by being a hero.

The official trailer gives a more developed look at the kind of absurdist mayhem fans can expect. Gunn announced the release of the new trailer on Twitter on Thursday. “I am THRILLED to officially unveil the SECOND SEASON TRAILER FOR @PeacemakerComic,” Gunn tweeted. “You don’t want to miss what happens next…”

A May teaser gave fans their first official look at the insane action to come in the season. The teaser trailer is set to the soaring tune of Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord,” and features Peacemaker’s official rejection from the Justice League. Chris (performed by Cena) gives a pitch to Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), all reprising their roles from Gunn’s Superman. Predictably, his inability to make eye contact and awkward but admittedly well-meaning approach fell flat, leading to a furious Chris stomping out of the meeting.

The teaser also gave early character updates fans are sure to love. Adebayo, a Level 5 player in the games, is now “living in the worst level of Grand Theft Auto,” according to Economos, who also informed the group that Harcourt is “on her period and suffering from a particularly severe form of toxic masculinity,” while Vigilante is in the “food service industry.”

The most shocking moment in the trailer might be a brief dimensional portal in the trailer. Chris stumbles into an alternate reality, one where he discovers an alternative version of himself, one that has a much warmer, more robust, and glowing reputation as a true hero. Peacemaker, a little jealous of his more successful and loved doppelganger, ponders his new place in this universe, especially since he can’t find any women who aren’t disgusted by him in his own. He wants to stay. But of course, as is his curse, he can’t escape his past. Harcourt puts a little reality check on her errant agent with one of the memorable lines in the trailer: “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”

Speaking at the panel for the show in Hall H at SDCC, Gunn also noted that Season 2 is about growth. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t just come back every season and they’re the same characters,” Gunn explained. “I want to see growth. I want to see change—and sometimes regression. Peacemaker is a different guy this year. He’s dealing with the demons he uncovered from the first season and trying to deal with them, and the world is not accepting him the way he is. They aren’t accepting him as a hero.”

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