Peacemaker Season 2 Trailer Teases Dimensional Portal and Redemption

HBO Max made a big splash at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend by dropping the first official trailer for Season 2 of Peacemaker, the Emmy-nominated DC spinoff series from director James Gunn. In addition to marking the first full-length look at what’s in store for John Cena’s Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, the trailer also shows that Season 2 is just going to go bigger, weirder, and more emotional.

Five months after the disaster on Corto Maltese in The Suicide Squad (2021), Peacemaker’s eight-episode first season found Smith recovering from a near-fatal gunshot during an ambush. He’s re-recruited by the U.S. government to join a new, clandestine operation called “Project Butterfly” and leads a team handpicked 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).

But Project Butterfly is far more than a standard government black ops mission. The team is instead charged with halting an alien invasion from a parasitic butterfly species that had descended on Earth and was capable of inhabiting human hosts. By the end of the season, the group managed to beat the creatures in a bloody battle at a ranch and escape alive—but not without some major injuries and emotional trauma.

Season 2 of Peacemaker, which just got an August 21, 2025, release date, finds Gunn’s quirky antihero back in action within a very different DC Universe. While the first season took place within the wider DCEU (Deadly Extended Universe), Peacemaker Season 2 now unfolds in the newly minted DCU (Deadly Current Universe), a shared universe that Gunn has been very vocal about and formally launched as part of his slate of “Gods and Monsters” stories. Gunn has since confirmed that previous events from Peacemaker (minus some occasional cameo appearances by members of the Justice League) are still canon.

Most of the series’ main cast are set to return for Season 2, including Cena, Brooks, Holland, Agee, and Freddie Stroma as the fan-favorite demented Vigilante. Nhut Le also returns as Judomaster, as well as Eagly, Peacemaker’s loyal bald eagle sidekick. Robert Patrick also reprises his role as Peacemaker’s dead father, Auggie Smith. Meanwhile, several new faces are set to appear in Season 2. They include Frank Grillo as Rick Flagg Sr., father to the late Rick Flagg, the mercenary killed by Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad; Grillo’s Flagg has now replaced Amanda Waller as head of A.R.G.U.S. and is seeking revenge. Other new cast members are Tim Meadows as agent Langston Fleury, Sol Rodriguez as Sasha Bordeaux, and Michael Rooker as Red St. Wild, a guy described as Eagly’s “nemesis.”

The official synopsis also confirms that Season 2 is going to grapple with Chris Smith’s struggle with the emotional baggage of his violent past and growing desire to become a better person. Peacemaker will still be seeking peace by any means, but he’s also become motivated to try and earn his redemption by becoming a hero rather than through blind obedience.

A teaser released in May offered up the first glimpse at the outrageous nature of Season 2. Set to the music of Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord,” the first trailer included footage of Chris once again failing in a bid to join the Justice League, which included Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders (Isabela Merced), and Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), all reprising their roles from Superman. His pitch is understandably met with confusion and skepticism.

The teaser also gave a taste of some fun updates to each of the characters. It’s learned that Adebayo is now “living in the worst level of Grand Theft Auto,” according to Economos. Harcourt has developed “a particularly severe form of toxic masculinity.” And Vigilante has landed a job in the food service industry.

The biggest surprise of the trailer is a dimensional portal, which leads to a major mind-bending twist when Chris runs into another version of himself. Chris finds himself in a parallel universe with a doppelgänger who is already celebrated as a true hero. Upset with his lack of success as a hero and his romantic misfortune in his world, he decides to embrace the chance to start over and stay in this parallel universe. But of course, his past is nipping at his heels. Harcourt ominously states, “No matter how green the grass is over there, you belong here. With us.”

In his Hall H panel at SDCC, Gunn, who will also return to write and direct several of the episodes, further teased that Season 2 of Peacemaker will dive into more character growth. “I like TV shows where the characters don’t just come back every season and they’re the same characters. I want to see growth. I want to see change—and sometimes regression,” Gunn explained. “Peacemaker is a different guy this year. He’s dealing with the demons he uncovered from the first season, and trying to deal with the man, and the world is not accepting him the way he is. They aren’t accepting him as a hero.”

Stay tuned for more on Peacemaker Season 2 and find the trailer above.