James Gunn’s series “Peacemaker,” starring John Cena, will be one of the rare DC properties that will carry over into the newly rebooted and reset DC Universe. While Gunn’s new DC Studios basically scrapped much of the past DCEU (Gal Gadot as “Wonder Woman,” etc.,) a new casting announcement for the second “Peacemaker” season is highlighting some of the connective tissue he intends to bring to the new DC. Already cast as a character from the animated series, “Creature Commandos,” actor Frank Grillo (“Boss Level”) will reprise that role in live-action in “Peacemaker” season two.
Today, Gunn announced via social media that Grillo will appear in the mature, R-rated DC Comics series on MAX as Rick Flag Sr., the father of Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag character from the “Suicide Squad” movies. Already in a leadership role in the aforementioned “Creature Commandos” project, Flag Sr. will be another lieutenant-like commander working for Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller character, the leader of Task Force X.
READ MORE: ‘Peacemaker’: James Gunn Says Season 1 Won’t Be Canon, But Upcoming Season Will Fold Into New DCU
The co-CEO of DC Studios confirmed the casting on Threads, “Pleased to announce the great Frank Grillo will be reprising the role of Rick Flag, Sr – the role he’ll first play in animated form in ‘Creature Commandos’ – throughout Season 2 of ‘Peacemaker.’ Christopher Smith and Rick Sr. have a little unfinished business to take care of…”
Grillo joins a cast that features returning actors such as Cena, Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Jennifer Holland, and Steve Agee.
Grillo isn’t a stranger to the world of comic book properties, playing the role of MCU villain Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones, in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” and “Captain America: Civil War.”
In the first season, Gunn helped co-direct a handful of “Peacemaker” episodes, but given he’s currently shooting his “Superman” reboot in Atlanta, it makes returning nearly impossible. However, he is contributing as a writer, and it will very likely still feel like a Gunn property even if he’s not on set overseeing things day-to-day.
Could Gunn insert more DCU or “Creature Commandos” characters into the show? It’s possible, but given the limits of TV budgeting, it could mean that many of the CGI-heavy characters from the animated show are off the table. That said, if “Creature Commando” characters are moving into live-action, maybe the more fantastical characters could turn up in a movie down the road. “Creature Commandos” is expected to premiere sometime later in 2024, but currently, the animated show has no official premiere date.