Peacemaker’s Multiversal Journey Begins in Season 2 Trailer

The full-length trailer for the upcoming second season of Peacemaker, the Emmy-nominated DC spinoff series from James Gunn, made its big premiere at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend. HBO Max shared the trailer on social media ahead of Gunn’s Hall H panel at SDCC.

In a first extended look at what’s to come, the new trailer marks an evolution for John Cena’s Peacemaker character in Gunn’s comic book universe (assuming it’s still the same one, anyway). Following the events of The Suicide Squad (2021) and an eight-episode first season that aired earlier in 2024, the 2025 sophomore outing will find Peacemaker bigger, weirder, and just a bit more emotional.

Peacemaker‘s first season, which took place five months after the events of the Corto Maltese mission in The Suicide Squad, sees Smith barely clinging to life after a near-fatal gunshot wound. Still, he’s recruited by the U.S. government for another covert mission known only as “Project Butterfly.” He’s placed on a new team of handpicked, highly trained “heroes” (really just another secret ops squad) led by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) and under the advisement of A.R.G.U.S. agent John Economos (Steve Agee) and NSA agent Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), along with a recruit, Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks).

Peacemaker and the rest of the Project Butterfly team would come to learn it’s not just another standard-issue government black ops mission after all. It was a multiversal assault on humanity from a parasitic alien species in the form of, you guessed it, butterflies that are searching for human hosts to inhabit and colonize Earth. Despite heavy casualties and more bullets exchanged than at the height of the Vietnam War, the misfit team survived their encounter on the ranch to live (mostly) to fight another day by the end of season one.

But the DCEU has since changed—and so, by extension, has Peacemaker. Gunn noted during his Comic-Con panel that while Season 1 takes place within the now-defunct DCEU, Season 2 will unfold in the brand-new DCU, as introduced by Gunn himself as part of his “Gods and Monsters” slate of superhero storytelling. Gunn did confirm that some things that happened, except for a few cameo appearances from Justice League members, are still canon.

Peacemaker returns this fall with an expanded (but largely the same) cast of Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, and Freddie Stroma as the fan-favorite, deeply unhinged Vigilante. Nhut Le, who played Judomaster, also returns for a new season, as does Eagly, Peacemaker’s devoted bald eagle wingman. Robert Patrick is back, too, as Peacemaker’s deceased father, Auggie Smith, whose legacy lives on in the character’s brutal methods. Frank Grillo is a notable new addition to this season’s cast as Rick Flagg Sr., the now-retired leader of A.R.G.U.S., who, as Gunn explained, was once Peacemaker’s ally but now wants to avenge the death of his son, Rick Flagg, played by Luke Bracey in The Suicide Squad (2021) and killed by Peacemaker. Michael Rooker also joins the cast as Red St. Wild, described as Eagly’s “nemesis.” Rounding out the new additions are Tim Meadows as A.R.G.U.S. agent Langston Fleury, Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, and Gerard Hoak as A.R.G.U.S. agent Knox.

The official synopsis for the new season reads: “Season 2 follows Chris Smith as he continues to deal with both the emotional impact of his violent past and his desire to be a better person. He still wants peace at all costs—but this time, he wants it to be earned through heroism and not blind obedience.”

The teaser, released in May, offered a first look at the twisted nature and story that awaits both the character and the audience. Set to the music of Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord,” the preview is a wild take on what could have been with Peacemaker attempting, and spectacularly failing, to join the Justice League. Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn) all appear, reprising their roles from Gunn’s Superman film, to receive Chris’s pitch for the team—badly. Naturally, the idea is a no-go.

The teaser also offered some fun updates for the returning characters. Adebayo is now living in the “worst level of Grand Theft Auto,” according to Economos. Harcourt, per Vigilante, is reportedly “experiencing a particularly severe form of toxic masculinity.” As for Vigilante, he’s found a way to monetize his lunacy and settled into the food service industry.

The trailer’s biggest and most surprising moment comes at the end. The mysterious dimensional portal that Chris comes across is a multiverse portal. He tumbles into an alternate universe, where he encounters another version of himself—one that is already loved and celebrated as the true hero. Disgruntled with his status and unrequited love interest in his world, he ponders joining this parallel version of himself instead and living out the hero life. Naturally, his past has other ideas. Harcourt, apparently still with him at this point in the season, delivers the fateful line of dialogue to shoot down this fantasy: “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”

In a panel appearance at SDCC, Gunn shared a few more words on the new season. The director made it clear that this new batch of Peacemaker episodes will put character progression and growth front and center. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t just return every season and they’re the same characters,” Gunn said. “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.”

The full trailer’s release brings more specific looks at what Peacemaker Season 2 will be like from Gunn and his team. Season 1 showed the heights of what was possible for a Peacemaker series and its distinctively antic superhero style of action and humor, but this second outing promises to focus even more on character development, mixed with that and more multiversal storylines to boot. Gunn has said he wants to see his characters “grow” and “regress” in ways the audience might not expect, and Season 2 of Peacemaker has all the trappings to make that happen. Whether Cena’s Peacemaker can finally come to terms with his self or even his own identity—who he is, or who he even wants to be—remains to be seen.

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