PeacemakerSeason 2 is right around the corner, and two of the show’s biggest stars are pulling back the curtain on what fans can expect to see when it returns on August 21.Perri Nemiroffrecently caught up with starsDanielle BrooksandJennifer Hollandfor a specialCollider Ladies Nightpanel at San Diego Comic-Con, andPeacemakerwas one of the topics of discussion.
Nemiroff asked both Brooks and Hollandwhat has stayed consistent with Adebayo and Harcourtbetween Seasons 1 and 2, but alsohow playing them has changed between seasons. Brooks stepped up to the plate with her answer first, speaking on the confidence Adebayo built up throughout the first season, and how she’s just narrowly clinging to both her confidence and optimismwhen we first meet her in Season 2:
“Well, when we first meet Adebayo, she really is kind of all over the place. She’s trying to figure out her place in this 11th Street Kids. She’s flustered half the time, really just all over the place. Then, through the conversations that she has with the other characters, and building that relationship, she gains her confidence.She gained so much confidence that she ends up rattin’ out her mom. When we meet her in Season 2, the one thing that I think has been consistent about Adebayo has been her optimism. There is just something about her that is like you, as most of us actors, we’ve been talking about today, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m going to believe that this thing is going to happen.’ And I think that’s where we meet her at the top.”
It sounds like the 11th Street Kids are in for even more danger in Season 2, but Adebayo is ready to face it head-on. She continued, highlighting just how “comfortable” Adebayo feels among this group, and how everyone feels more like “family” than coworkers, “I’m not going to ruin anything for y’all, but I think out of all of the characters in the beginning of Season 2,she’s the one that’s holding on to optimism. What I do see in her is that she’s more comfortable in the group. This is her family now. This is her tribe, and soshe wants the best for every last one of them. So, I feel like that’s what’s giving this season for her. The heart.”
She didn’t fully dispute a villainous turn for Adbeayo, either, praising the writing ability ofJames Gunn, who always keeps the audience on their toes, “Well, you know,James Gunn is a mighty fine writer. I don’t know. You never know.”
Emilia Harcourt Is “Vulnerable” in ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2
Holland teased a much different path inPeacemakerSeason 2 forher character, Emilia Harcourt. While also highlighting Gunn’s writing ability, she spoke about just how “vulnerable” she is, and also how the events have “hardened” her since we first met her in Season 1:
“I think one of the really cool things about James as a writer is that he really does want tosee his characters evolve and continue to grow in different ways, whether that’s growing in a positive way or regressing. I think Peacemaker’s character’s kind of grown in a positive way in certain ways from Season 1 to Season 2. Danielle’s character definitely has, I think, found her voice in some ways, found a strength.My character, not so much. My character was sort of the put-together, very capable and reasonable character in Season 1, and through the course of what happens, she almost dies in Season 1, and she loses her job because of something that Adebayo does at the end of Season 1. So, in losing her job, and I think probably through the experience of almost dying and being in one ofthe most vulnerable places she’s ever been in in her life, I think what happens for her is she hardens even more, and so she regresses in a certain way in Season 2. So, we get to see how that evolves.”
Holland also confirmed that the biggest challenge for her onPeacemakerSeason 2 was the physicality, “What stays the same for her is definitely that she just doesn’t shy away from being honest, and she’s hard. She’s a hard person. So, that remains. But I think that one of the biggest challenges I had in dealing with how she changes in Season 2 was physical for me. She’s just a human being. For anyone who hasn’t watched the show, she’s not a superhero. She doesn’t have any powers.She’s just a regular human being who’s very capable. She’s a fighter. She knows how to fight.”
Harcourt may not be a metahuman, but that doesn’t mean she can’t hold her own in a fight. She confirmed that she bulked up to play Harcourt in Season 2 to make her look like more of a force to be reckoned with, “I was very fit in Season 1, but I wanted to look like I went through rehab after almost dying and really just got really strong so that she could never be taken advantage of again. I wanted her to really, truly look like she was strong enough to beat up a lot of large men, and soI really worked on building muscle mass, which is something I’ve never done in my life. I wanted to look bigger. So, that was a really interesting challenge. Making sure thatshe physically looked like she could do the things that she doeswas really fun for me.”
Holland wrapped things up by talking about James Gunn’s style on set, which consists of some improvisation on already strong scripts, “Gosh. James is, as Danielle knows very well, very well known for sort ofimproving, throwing you lines on set, and just saying, ‘Oh, say this, say that, say this.’ And usually he’s laughing through it, so you’re like, ‘Wait, what? I don’t know what you just said.’”
The firsttrailers forPeacemakerSeason 2confirm that it will be a multiversal story. The DCU may only be on its third project afterCreature CommandosandSuperman, but it isn’t afraid to up the stakes.
PeacemakerSeason 2 returns on August 21. Stay tuned to Collider for more coverage of the show and watch the first season onHBO Max.
