Although the DC Extended Universe is over and the DC Universe will launch soon with its Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate, there are a few holdovers from the old continuity. Peacemaker Season 2 remains on the list of upcoming DC TV shows, though it will now take place in this new universe, and series creator James Gunn announced in April that the new season had begun filming. Now Gunn has shared that Frank Grillo, who played Brock Rumlow/Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is coming aboard, and fans can count of bad blood between his character and John Cena’s Christopher Smith.
You may recall that although Superman: Legacy will be the first DC Universe movie, this franchise kicks off later this year with the animated series Creature Commandos, which, like Peacemaker, will be available exclusively to Max subscribers. Grillo is voicing Rick Flag Sr., leader of the title team of monsters, and now he’ll get to play the character in live-action too. Thanks to the below post from James Gunn on Instagram and other social media channels, the latest thing we know about Peacemaker Season 2 is that Grillo will reprise Rick Flag Sr., with the writer/director teasing there’s “a little unfinished business to take care of” between him and the show’s main protagonist.
What is this unfinished business? Well, remember that John Cena’s Peacemaker was introduced in 2021’s The Suicide Squad, where he was part of the main Task Force X squad sent to Corto Maltese. Eventually he and his teammates synched up with Joel Kinsman’s Rick Flag Jr., who, like Harley Quinn, was a survivor from the ill-fated B-team. When Flag Jr. leaned about the U.S. government secretly funding the Starro project that used Corto Maltese citizens as test subjects, he grew angry and decided he would leak a hard drive containing the evidence. Unfortunately, Peacemaker had been tasked by Amanda Waller to ensure this information wasn’t made public, resulting in him killing Flag Jr.
So yeah, you can understand why the father of the man Peacemaker killed would be a little pissed off. We’re a ways off from learning what leads to Rick Flag Sr. and Christopher Smith crossing paths, but it’ll only be a matter of time before these two come to blows. Whether they’ll remain adversaries for the entirety of Peacemaker Season 2 or will have to work together later on to combat a greater threat remains to be seen.
What’s interesting about all this, however, is that Amanda Waller, whom Viola Davis reprises in the DC Universe, is the one who assembles the Creature Commandos, meaning she picked Rick Flag Sr. to lead the team. I can’t imagine he’d willingly join the Creature Commandos if he knew that she was the catalyst behind Peacemaker killing his son. So is Rick Flag Sr. not aware of her involvement, or will he only take his anger out on Christopher Smith because he actually committed the murder?
In any case, Frank Grillo is the first new cast member lined up for Peacemaker Season 2, and the other familiar faces returning alongside John Cena include Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee. We’ll keep you apprised of more casting news and other updates on how the new season is coming as they come in.