‘Peacemaker’ Star Steve Agee Teases What’s to Come in Season 2’s Huge Finale: “It Needs to Continue”

Summary

• Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Peacemaker ‘s Steve Agee at San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
• Agee talks about his working relationship and friendship with James Gunn, his reservations about Guardians of the Galaxy and playing King Shark, and Gunn’s creative process.
• He also discusses the Peacemaker Season 2 opening dance number, more character growth, a bigger cast, and the epic season finale.

He’s back, and he’s still kind of the worst (in the best way possible). Season 2 of Peacemaker is right around the corner, and HBO Max just released a brand new trailer. First released during San Diego Comic-Con 2025, the trailer gives fans a chaotic first look at where things are heading. John Cena‘s Christopher Smith is still a walking disaster who hasn’t gotten the hero schtick settled. This time around, he’s dealing with issues beyond his wildest imagination.

The trailer kicks off with Peacemaker at rock bottom, until he finds a universe where his life doesn’t suck. In true Peacemaker fashion, he tries to mess with this dimension, which ultimately goes wrong. The footage teases familiar faces such as Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and John Economos (Steve Agee) back on screen. Peacemaker better watch his back. New threats like Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), fresh out of what happened in The Suicide Squad, are out for blood.

At SDCC, Collider’s Steven Weintraub sat down withAgee to talk all things Peacemaker, also covering everything from collecting King Shark merch, James Gunn‘s packed work schedule, and Agee’s time as a writer for Jimmy Kimmel. Check out the full interview above or read the full conversation below.

Steve Agee is a King Shark Merch Collector

Unfortunately, there’s not much John Economos stuff around.

COLLIDER: I have a ton of questions for you, but I’ve been asking everybody who’s been coming in — I want more people to see movies in movie theaters, so what is your favorite movie theater?

STEVE AGEE: Oh my God, well, up until recently, the Cinerama Dome in LA. And now that that’s whatever it is now, probably the Vista. Very vintage old theater. I haven’t been in it, though, since they remodeled.

Oh, it’s real good.

AGEE: Are the seats still spaced out really far?

The seats are spaced out so far, it doesn’t make sense. You could have another 100 people. It’s crazy.

AGEE: As a 6’6 person, it was my favorite theater to go to because I could literally just do this. People could still walk in front of me.

You could be probably nine feet and it would be okay. It’s insane.

AGEE: Love it.

So, we’re here at Comic-Con, and obviously a lot of people here collect things. I’m curious, what do you collect, if anything? When you’re walking around the convention floor, what are you looking for?

AGEE: It wasn’t really by choice, it just started happening. I started collecting cameras. But since entering the DC world, I keep getting Funko Pops, [Seth] MacFarlane stuff. Sideshow stuff.

Do they mail it to you?

AGEE: Yeah, so it’s not really collecting. I’m not going around, but it’s showing up, and it’s all on my shelves in my house.

Is it part of the deal if you’re an actor in one of these shows that you get everything?

AGEE: I don’t know. It’s never happened before, but I’ve never been involved in something as big as this universe. I had a roommate in the early 2000s who had so many action figures. I was like, “I don’t get it, man. I mean, I kind of get it, but also, there’s very limited space in our apartment.” And now that the stuff started showing up, I kind of love putting it up on the shelves and the posters and everything. So, it sounds so weird, but I kind of collect stuff from the shows I’m on. That sounds insane, by the way, now that I’m saying it out loud.

I’m gonna ask you this, though. So you’re getting a lot of stuff sent to you. Are you actually buying stuff, like your figure in a store?

AGEE: As far as I know right now, there’s no John Economos stuff. Come on! But I have a bunch of King Shark stuff because I did the motion-capture for King Shark. So, I’ve bought a few King Shark things, but at conventions, I was like, “Oh my God, I didn’t know this existed.” Half an hour ago, I saw some Peacemaker plushies that talk when you squeeze, like it’s got Cena’s voice, Freddie Stroma’s voice. I really thought it was kind of cool.

James Gunn’s Creative Choices Perplex Even His Closest Friends

“A tree and a raccoon?”

When did you see Superman?

AGEE: I saw it a year ago.

Get the F out of here.

AGEE: I saw it with very limited visual effects. A lot of it is just crude animation, replacing some of the visual effects. There was not a dog. I think I was one of the first people to see a cut of it.

And that’s because James [Gunn] wanted you to give feedback.

AGEE: Yeah. He had just finished shooting Superman in Atlanta, and we kind of took over on the lot with Peacemaker. So, we were around, and so there were a handful of us from Peacemaker that got to see an early cut, and it was incredible. And then I didn’t see it again until the premiere, like two weeks ago. It was mind-blowing seeing it with visual effects. Shocker. [Laughs]

I know that he cut stuff out. Do you remember, or was it so early that it’s hard to remember?

AGEE: It was so early. It seems very similar to the cut that I saw. I know there were probably 10 or 15 minutes at least cut out of it. I saw a bunch of temporary music in it. So that was all different. I mean, the biggest difference, though, was the visual effects.

You’ve known James for a while.

AGEE: 2009? Yeah.

He is on such a roll. It is really hard to make a good movie. It’s really hard to make a good show. He is just knocking it out of the park again and again and again. How does he do it?

AGEE: I don’t know, man. I’m well past questioning anything. I remember when he got Guardians of the Galaxy. I had never even heard of that entity. I was like, “A tree and a raccoon?” Like, I didn’t get it. When I saw the movie, I got it, and I was like, “This is amazing.” Suicide Squad, I knew a long time in advance he wanted me to do the motion-capture for King Shark because I’m his tallest friend and I have a comedy background, and I was still like, “That’s weird, man, a giant talking shark.” But I was like, “He did it with a tree and a raccoon.” And then he crushed it. So, I’m beyond questioning anything he decides to do. To a lot of people, they probably thought this was a weird choice, like Peacemaker? And then the show was huge.

Alan Tudyk’s Wife Choreographed the ‘Peacemaker’ Dance Scenes

Tudyk stood in for Cena during rehearsals.

I want to jump into Peacemaker. I love the first season but have yet to see the second season. I really think that the opening dance number song really put that show on the map, because it’s hard to break through the zeitgeist. When you guys were making it, obviously you have no idea this is going to be anything. When did you first realize this dance number and the song was taking off?

AGEE: After the first episode, it was all over the internet. There were just memes and people recreating the dance. So I knew really early on. But when I got the scripts, I was reading the first script and there’s a cold open, Cena getting out of the hospital, and it said, “Cut to the opening dance number.” And I was so confused. I was like, “Is he going to have dancers?” I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. Then it was on the schedule once we started shooting, and it was more than halfway into the shoot, and I was really dreading it. I have no rhythm. I’m not a good dancer.

Then we started doing rehearsals with Charissa Barton, Alan Tudyk’s wife, a brilliant choreographer. I say “Alan Tudyk’s wife” because she is Alan Tudyk’s wife, but while she was constructing the dance, she was sending videos to James to get approval of, “Does this work? Does this work?” And it was Alan doing all the placeholder dancing. In fact, when we were rehearsing and shooting the dance number, Cena was still shooting stuff in the episode, and so Alan was on set with us, standing in for John because he knew all the dance moves.

I was really nervous going into it because I’m a terrible dancer. But then, after hanging out with Robert Patrick for a while, I go, “This guy’s definitely going to be a worse dancer than me.” Spoiler, he was a worse dancer than me. [Laughs] We were shooting it, and I was still like, “This is crazy! This is really weird.” Actually seeing it happen and seeing playback while we were doing it, I was like, “Okay, this is pretty cool. I don’t know how the world is going to see it.” It wasn’t the first dance. James put on an opening dance number, albeit it was animated inSuper with Rainn Wilson. So, it wasn’t his first go. And that dance number was cool. It was really one or two episodes in, and it was the number one most talked about aspect of the show.

It’s one of the few shows that, when I watch every episode, I would watch the opening and not skip it because it was so good.

AGEE: You’re not the only one.

Everything’s Bigger and Better in ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2

“It’s going to be huge.”

Let’s jump into Season 2. You obviously filmed a new dance number. You guys are going to premiere the opening dance number here at Comic-Con.

AGEE: That’s what I’ve heard. Among other clips, they’re going to show the opening. I’m very excited. It’s so good.

How would you compare the Season 2 dance number to the first season?

AGEE: Way bigger. I mean, at least twice as many people, maybe more, in the dance number, because we have a much bigger cast this season. We’ve got Frank Grillo with us. Robert Patrick’s back. Judomaster’s back. We have Tim Meadows and a wonderful actress, Sol Rodriguez. It’s a lot of people. We shot the first dance number in a day. We shot this new one in two very full days. It was a lot more rehearsal. I really felt bad for Charissa having to babysit twice as many people and a lot of really crappy dancers, by the way. It was a tougher dance to learn, as well, but it’s way more epic.

Were they playing the song on set?

AGEE: Oh yeah.

What was your reaction when you heard the song? Because one of the things about Season 1 was that it is a banger of a song that nobody knows. With Season 2, is it kind of the same thing?

AGEE: Yeah, it’s going to be huge. It’s funny because it was huge for the band in Season 1, the band that did it. They were having much bigger concerts and more people showing up, as well they should have. It’s going to be the same for Season 2. It’s so hard for me not to actually say it, but it’s so good. I had to rehearse it over and over, so I heard… Not the whole song. It’s really weird because they cut throughout the dance number, so I had to learn certain moves, so I only heard certain parts of the song. Granted, I knew what it was, so I could go home and listen to it all. But the two days that we shot, it was over and over and over. You would go home, and you couldn’t get it out of your head. It’s super catchy. The band is incredible. They were on set at times. They’re so awesome.

How would you compare Season 2 to Season 1?

AGEE: Much like the dance number, epic, huge, bigger storylines. Obviously, more characters. Our characters from Season 1 are a lot more fleshed out. It’s just different. It’s bigger. I think everyone’s going to love it. I know everyone’s going to love it.

Which episode of the eight is your favorite, and which episode is the one you can’t wait for people to see?

AGEE: Shit, man…I think Episode 6 is a really huge one, and obviously the finale is so massive. So, [Episodes] 6 and 8. But I just can’t wait for people to even see Episode 1.

What do you think people are going to think or say after they see the Peacemaker Season 2 finale?

AGEE: I think there’s going to be a lot of people excited for where this goes on from there. I personally don’t know how it’s going to move on, what direction. But it’s a story that definitely needs to continue. So, I’m very excited. I don’t know, man, it’s a huge episode.

Is it like Stranger Things, where you’re doing longer episodes? Do you think Episode 8 is a longer one?

AGEE: I don’t think it’s much longer. I think they’re all pretty much in the same time range.

James Gunn Worked on ‘Superman’ and ‘Peacemaker’ Back to Back

“He’s a machine when it comes to writing.”

So you were also a part of Creature Commandos? Also fantastic.

AGEE: Really cool.

And heartbreaking at times.

AGEE: The weasel story is a bummer.

It is heartbreaking. Again, credit to James. I know they’re making Season 2, so have you actually started voice recording?

AGEE: No. I know nothing about Season 2. I don’t know where James is going to go with it. I don’t even know if he’s written it. He clearly knows where he’s going to go with it, but I don’t know if he’s actually started writing it. And for me, a voice recording for that will probably be a day. Season 1, I’m not in all the episodes, I’m in a few scenes here and there, so it was just an afternoon of recording for me.

Did they tell you everything about the show when you were recording?

AGEE: No.

So you watched it like everyone else?

AGEE: Yeah.

What did you think?

AGEE: Loved it. It was very James. You see these characters like Weasel, who’s in the Suicide Squad, and you’re like, “This is a disgusting animal,” and then he has this horrific story that’s very sad. It’s very James to give these characters crazy emotional arcs.

That’s the reason why I love his writing. It’s because it’s unexpected. There’s a lot of pathos, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of emotion. It’s not just one-dimensional writing.

AGEE: He’s operating on a whole new level, and he does it very seamlessly. He cranked out Season 1 of our show. He wrote it in eight weeks. I feel like Season 2 wasn’t much longer. When he has an idea for something, he can see it all, conceive it, and knows exactly where he wants to go with it. He’s a machine when it comes to writing.

He told me that making Superman and Peacemaker back to back and doing everything, he said he’ll never do it again. He said it was just too much.

AGEE: [Laughs] I don’t blame him. We had a very small overlap of time from when they were finishingSuperman and us starting Peacemaker. So we overlapped a little bit at Trilith Studios in Georgia, and we jumped in and went for six months of shooting, and he had just done Superman, in what, five months of shooting? And that doesn’t even count the writing and the pre-production. It was so much. Knowing what he had to do to accomplish all that is mind-blowing.

You were a writer on [Jimmy] Kimmel.

AGEE: I was very briefly. I worked at Kimmel for a long time. I started as a researcher. He uses a lot of clips from the news and TV shows in his opening monologue. That was my job when I started. I watched TV for, like, 10 hours a day, finding those clips. I was one of the first people to start piecing together the segment they call “Unnecessary Censorship.” I was there for the beginning of “Unnecessary Censorship,” which is, I think, the longest-running segment on his show. Watching a lot of horrible TV is really a tough job. I stuck around because I wanted to be a writer, and he eventually made me one. It was maybe six months until The Sarah Silverman [Program]. We did a pilot, and it got picked up, and I left to start acting.

The Peacemaker Season 2 premiere is available to stream on HBO Max. New episodes drop every Thursday.