Peacemaker season 2: HBO Max release date prediction, confirmed cast, possible plot, and more news and rumors

Peacemaker season 2 sees the return of an antihero who famously claimed to “cherish peace with all my heart. I don’t care how many men, women and children I need to kill to get it”. The return of John Cena’s fan-favorite DC character has certainly raised eyebrows because, well, the second season of The Suicide Squad movie’s spin-off series isn’t set in the now-defunct DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Instead, it’s part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Cinematic Universe (DCU).

Confused? So are we. Nonetheless, we’ve done our best to explain how Peacemaker‘s sophomore season will fit into – not to mention impact – the DCU Chapter One line-up. You’ll also learn more about its potential release date, confirmed cast, likely story details, and more in this guide, too. So, stick on the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’, grab your own Eagly (that’s Peacemaker’s bald eagle, for anyone not paying attention), and evoke your inner patriot as we break down everything worth knowing about Peacemaker season 2. Full spoilers follow for season 1, too!

Peacemaker season 2 doesn’t have an official release date yet but, as Gunn confirmed on Instagram (see above), filming go underway in April. Since then, the DC Studios co-head has announced it’ll debut sometime in 2025, too (per Threads).

So, when could the hit series – which debuted on Max (US), Sky/Now TV (UK), and Binge (Australia) – make its return? Events in Gunn’s Superman movie, which flies into theaters next July, will precede what happens in this show’s sophomore outing. Gunn confirmed as much (again, via Threads), writing: “Peacemaker season 2 will take place after the events in Superman“, and that events in Superman impact Peacemaker. This all but confirms Christopher Smith won’t be resuming his quest for peace until the second half of 2025. 

In yet another Threads post, Gunn revealed that, as of October, half of season 2 had been shot, so it’s likely that filming will wrap sometime in early 2025. Based on those variables, we expect Cena’s foul-mouthed vigilante to make his DCU debut in late 2025, with the show premiering around October next year on some of the world’s best streaming services.

No. With the show’s release date still (probably) over a year away, it’s too early for a Peacemaker season 2 trailer. We’ll update this section once a teaser is released.

Full spoilers follow for Peacemaker season 1.

With the notable exception of Chukwudi Iwuji’s Clemson Murn/Ik Nobe Llok, who dies in season 1 episode 7, most of the show’s key characters will be back in action for Peacemaker season 2:

 John Cena as Christopher Smith/PeacemakerDanielle Brooks as Leota AdebayoFreddie Stroma as Adrian Chase/VigilanteJennifer Holland as Emilia HarcourtSteve Agee as John EconomosNhut Le as JudomasterRobert Patrick as Auggie Smith/White DragonViola Davis as Amanda WallerFrank Grillo as Rick Flag SrTim Meadows as Langston FleurySol Rodriguez as Sasha BordeauxDavid Denman as TBC

The headline newcomer is Frank Grillo (best known for playing Brock ‘Crossbones’ Rumlow in the Captain America movies) as military man Rick Flag Sr. We’ll get our first glimpse of Flag Sr. in action in Creature Commandos, which will be the first DCU project to arrive when it launches this December. Given the murkiness of how events in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker season 1 will fit into the wider DCU, we think Grillo’s casting as Flag Sr. will make it harder to follow Gunn’s cinematic universe.

But we digress. Other new additions include Star Trek: Picard’s Sol Rodriguez as established DC comic-book character Sasha Bordeaux, Mean Girls’ Tim Meadows as government agent Langston Fleury, and The Office’s David Denman in a yet-to-be-confirmed role. It’s also all but confirmed that Peacemaker’s white supremacist dad Auggie will be back from the dead – in a manner of speaking, but more on this later – after Robert Patrick told PopVerse that he recently filmed a “big scene” for season 2.

As for other potential newcomers, Gunn (via Instagram, see below) teased the appearance of a new mystery character in season 2. Get your guessing hat on now.

Elsewhere, there are rumors (per Cinemablend) that For All Mankind’s Joel Kinnaman could return as Rick Flag Jr. However, Task Force X’s leader was killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad so, like Patrick’s Auggie, it’s unclear how he’ll return. The safest way to bring back the pair would be in flashback sequences but, hey, nobody’s ever truly dead in the world of comic books and, by proxy, their big- and small-screen adaptations.

Full spoilers follow for Peacemaker season 1. Potential spoilers are also discussed for season 2.

Shocking no-one, a Peacemaker season 2 plot brief hasn’t been revealed yet. That hasn’t stopped Gunn from teasing what’s to come in the show’s next installment, nor us from theorizing where things could go next after the first season’s finale

“It essentially picks up where season 1 left off,” Gunn replied to a Threads user’s question about its plot, although he added that there’ll be “a couple of minor differences”. That’s to be expected, especially – as we keep saying – in light of the fact that seasons 1 and 2 exist in completely different comic book universes.

Anyway, by the end of the first season, Christopher Smith and his “11th Street Kids” associates had defeated the world-ending threat of the alien Butterflies, but not without cost. Group leader Clemson Murn (and Ik Nobe Llok, the Butterfly revolutionary inside him) was dead and ARGUS (Advanced Research Group Uniting Superhumans) agents Emilia Harcourt and John Economos, plus Peacemaker sidekick Vigilante, were all badly injured. All three were well on the road to recovery by the time the final credits rolled – indeed, Economos had even gone back to work at the Belle Reve Penitentiary, former residence of Peacemaker and the rest of the Suicide Squad.

Having previously taken an extremely violent – some might say murderous – approach to maintaining peace and order, Smith finally found himself on the road to redemption, too. Expect that path to continue in season 2 of one of the best Max shows, albeit one with plenty of roadblocks in the way.

One such hurdle is likely to be his late father, Auggie (aka White Dragon). Indeed, if season 1’s final shot is anything to go by – a vision of Smith Sr. appeared to Peacemaker outside their trailer – he’s set to exert some influence from beyond the grave. If this turns out to be the case, Robert Patrick is clearly excited by the prospect, with the Terminator 2 star telling old the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast: “To be honest with you, I think this could be the funniest f***ing stuff ever. In my own mind I’m trying to think of the scenarios James [Gunn] is going to come up with, and there’s a lot he could do. It’s unlimited, because I’m a f***ing ghost, dude!”

Rick Flag Sr. is also unlikely to see eye-to-eye with Peacemaker, seeing as the latter killed his son in The Suicide Squad to stop him from whistleblowing on Amanda Waller’s nefarious dealings. Speaking of Waller, the morally dubious government mastermind behind Task Force X, she’s unlikely to be too far from the action – though you can rest assured she’ll leave it to others to get their hands dirty. You know, unless things go south at some point.

It remains to be seen which side newcomer Sasha Bordeaux will be on, too – the cyborg operative has worked for ARGUS in the comics, but started her DC career as bodyguard to a certain Bruce Wayne. Could Peacemaker season 2 set up some key story details for The Brave and the Bold, aka the DCU’s first Batman flick? If anyone’s going to drop some telling references about the direction of the DCU, it’ll be Gunn. Speaking of where DCU Chapter One, also titled Gods and Monsters, will go after Peacemaker‘s next chapter…

Knowing how to watch DC movies in order, not to mention adding in its TV shows from various cinematic universes, is always a challenge – and things are about to get even trickier. 

Peacemaker made his live-action debut in The Suicide Squad, a quasi-sequel to Suicide Squad (2016), which was part of the deceased DCEU’s continuity. Peacemaker season 1 followed on directly from The Suicide Squad. Since season 1 aired in early 2022, however, there have been big changes at DC. Gunn and Safran were appointed joint CEOs of a new-look DC Studios later that year and got to work trying to rebuild the comic titan’s reputation (from a cinematic standpoint, anyhow) after years of box office bombs and projects people were less than enthused about. 

Where Peacemaker is concerned, the long and short of it is it’ll straddle the DCEU and DCU which, as we keep saying, may make things confusing to follow. What aspects from season 1 and the wider DCEU have Gunn and Safran retained for Peacemaker? Will you need to watch season 1 to understand season 2? And why didn’t they just reboot Peacemaker – albeit keeping Cena in the title role – to give themselves (and us!) a clean slate to work from as the DCU gets underway?

We won’t have answers to those queries until the show returns. But, responding to a Threads user asking if season 2 is going to be totally different than season 1, Gunn responded: “You’ll have to wait and see how that works out!”. Subsequently asked why he didn’t just make this follow-up season a new show, Gunn replied: “Because it’s my favorite thing to do, it’s the biggest original Max show ever, and I have a way in. It won’t be confusing”. We’ll see, James, we’ll see.

As for Peacemaker season 2’s potential impact on future DCU projects, another character making the jump between DC continuities is Amanda Waller. In fact, a Waller-focused show was part of the rebooted DCU slate Gunn first announced in January 2023, with the show set to arrive after Peacemaker season 2. Taking to Threads, Gunn reconfirmed Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol) are Waller‘s showrunners, too.

Little else is known about the effect Peacemaker‘s next adventure will have on other DCU Chapter One movies and shows. As we said, based on Sasha Bordeaux’s inclusion, it may connect to The Brave and the Bold. Flag Sr.’s appearance might suggest that a second season of Creature Commandos could be born out of whatever happens once this show ends, too, especially if Flag Sr. ends up leading a new version of the team, or a new installment of the Suicide Squad/Task Force X. In short: we’ll have to wait and see how Peacemaker season 2 will influence Gods and Monsters’ slate of projects.

For more Max-based coverage, read our guides on House of the Dragon season 3, Euphoria season 3, and The Last of Us season 2.