Peacemaker, Season 2: Lets Talk About That Dead Character’s Return

Be warned: Full spoilers ahead for the first episode of Peacemaker, Season 2!

Peacemaker: Season 2 sees its title character discover a parallel dimension where everything is going his way – or at least it is for that dimension’s Chris Smith (John Cena). Peacemaker is a beloved superhero who fights crime alongside two characters who are deceased in Chris’ home dimension: his father Auggie (Robert Patrick) and his big brother Kevin (David Denman).

In this dimension, the Smiths are an affluent family where Chris has a loving relationship with his doting dad and he never accidentally killed Keith as a child. They all serve together as the celebrated superheroes known as The Top Trio. As Chris says to himself at one point, “Best. Dimension. Ever.”

But the main Chris is also living a lie after he accidentally kills his variant self in the season premiere and then assumes his identity in order to enjoy the life he’s far from having in his own dimension.

I recently chatted with actor David Denman (Brightburn, The Office) about his role as the parallel dimension’s Keith Smith and how that Peacemaker evolved in a world where he’s had his big brother his whole life. (This interview has been edited for clarity.)

IGN: How did the Keith Smith who lived shape that dimension’s Chris Smith’s character?

David Denman: In that universe, that Chris is a bit troubled too. I’ll try to figure out how much we reveal or not, but he tends to party a little too hard. He’s not as responsible as he could be and should be. And so Keith is trying to protect him and cover for him and be that supportive older brother like, get your act together kind of thing. So I think that because in this alternate universe things are different in here. We’re celebrated. We’re saving the day and we’re considered heroes. That’s such a departure from the opposite of where he’s coming from in the real world.

We play that Chris from the real world coming into our dimension is a different guy, but he’s saying things and we’re like, what? And mostly Keith just sort of throws it off with, “You’re so weird dude, like what’s your deal?” But he has no reason to not know. So he doesn’t realize what’s happening.

IGN: It’s such a complete night and day difference in how these Smith sons turned out. Is it a nature versus nurture kind of thing?

Denman: Yeah, a hundred percent. I think that James [Gunn, the writer-showqrunner] is playing with those things. Peacemaker’s trauma in Season 1 is this grief. And the one guy who was the only guy that was looking out for him and protecting was his older brother and dealing in that house with that horrible father that they had. What could Chris have become if Keith hadn’t died? Would Keith have ever been able to step up and save him from his father or would he have become a product of his father and would they have been that? So I don’t know because we don’t get to know Keith past 10 years-old or whatever he is when he passes.

So in this universe, I don’t know that it necessarily explained how they became that. It’s just that we are in a whole different universe. So from the get-go, all of the dynamics are slightly different. As you can see, we’re heroes here. We’re revered in our society and our community as heroes.

IGN: How would Keith as a superhero deal with a foe like Brightburn? Could he beat him in a fight?

Denman: Whoo. No, because that Brightburn kid has got laser beams for eyes and he would probably end up with the same demise as his father did in that thing. But I could fly around with him. We could do a little fighting and maybe my mask I have … I’m sure that helmets probably got some sort of protection from the laser beams, but I don’t know. I don’t know.

For more DCU coverage, read our spoiler-free Peacemaker: Season 2 review, find out what James Gunn had to say about Peacemaker Season 2 retcons Season 1’s Justice League cameo, and check out our rankings of every live-action DC television series.