[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 3, “Another Rick Up My Sleeve.”]
Peacemaker delivers a massive twist in Season 2’s third installment, “Another Rick Up My Sleeve,” as Joel Kinnaman reprises his role as Rick Flag Jr. in two forms, one the version fans met in The Suicide Squad and the other the “jarhead” hinted at in Peacemaker‘s alternate dimension.
While the episode opens with a flashback scene revealing that Rick Jr. and Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) were having an affair, it goes on to reveal that alternate dimension Harcourt is also involved with the Rick from her universe amid Christopher Smith’s (John Cena) attempt to woo her when he wakes up in that world at the start of this episode following his boozy night with the 11th Street Kids.
The revelation of Harcourt’s bond with Rick Jr. explains a lot when it comes to her initial hatred towards Peacemaker in Season 1; after all, Chris killed Rick Jr. during their mission in Corto Maltese. When it came to Kinnaman’s return and incorporation into this storyline, series creator and DC Comics co-head James Gunn tells TV Insider that was part of the plan “since before we shot Season 1, that Harcourt and Rick Flag had had an affair and were having an affair when he got killed… but beyond that they were also friends, and Economos is friends with him too.”
“That’s the reason they’re so negative towards Peacemaker when he comes on board at the beginning,” Gunn explains, “even though morally, obviously, Harcourt is as fluid as Peacemaker is throughout Season 1.”
As for having Kinnaman step into the alternate dimension as “jarhead” Rick Flag, Gunn was excited to allow the actor to have some more comedic moments as he nervously tiptoes around Chris. “Joel and I are good friends, so I asked him to do me a favor, but I also wanted to give him an opportunity to do something that’s purely comedic, because he’s a really funny guy,” Gunn explains.
“He’s never been in a comedy his entire life, so being able to show him doing this sort of namby-pamby version of Rick Flag Jr. … every time I watch those scenes, I laugh out loud,” Gunn admits.
While the alternate dimension allowed for a Peacemaker-Rick reunion of sorts, it also opened Chris’s eyes to the reality of this new world, in which Harcourt is less jagged around the edges and he’s a beloved hero. See what Holland has to say about embracing that other side of Harcourt in the alternate dimension, David Denman talk about donning Keith’s super suit, and Steve Agee talk about Economos’s reunion with Judomaster in the full video interview above.
Peacemaker, Season 2, Thursdays, HBO Max