Posted in: HBO, Max, Movies, TV | Tagged: peacemaker, Rick Flag Jr

Peacemaker: Joel Kinnaman Addresses His DCU Future as Rick Flag Jr

Joel Kinnaman (For All Mankind) reflects on his Peacemaker appearance as Rick Flag Jr and the likelihood of him returning to James Gunn's DCU.

Joel Kinnaman never really got that proper swan song as Rick Flag Jr in the DCU, but he got to play him one last time in his surprise cameo in HBO Max's Peacemaker Season 2, third episode "Another Rick Up My Sleeve." While promoting his AppleTV sci-fi series For All Mankind, the actor spoke about his DCU future after James Gunn shockingly brought him back, not once, but twice, starting with 2021's The Suicide Squad, following his turn in David Ayer's unrelated Suicide Squad in 2016. He and Margot Robbie, who played Harley Quinn, are the only actors to be retained from the previous film for the Gunn update. The 2021 film also served as a launching pad for John Cena's Christopher Smith/Peacemaker, who became the focus of his own series in 2022, and its second (and presumably final) season in 2025. Speaking with Screen Rant, Kinnaman spoke about his future as Rick Flag Jr.

Peacemaker: Joel Kinnaman Ready to Move on From Rick Flagg Jr

The 2021 film saw Peacemaker kill Flag for trying to expose Amanda Waller's (Viola Davis) cover-up plans, with the two going down to the wire and Chris stabbing Rick in the heart with Rick's last words, "Peacemaker…what a joke" before dying. In the Peacemaker episode, we see him alive, but after Chris travels to an alternate Earth where he didn't kill him. It's revealed in the canon that Rick was Emilia Harcourt's (Jennifer Holland) ex before swearing not to get close to anyone else, hiding her feelings for Chris despite his advances. When Chris decides to make this alternate dimension his new home, his former ARGUS associates team up to bring him home before it's revealed that Earth-2 is dominated by American Nazis.

When asked if there's any chance Rick Flagg Jr returns, "Yeah, I would say so…An alternate universe, mealy-mouthed Rick, as me and James called him," Kinnaman said, admitting he's surprised he was able to keep his appearance a secret. "I'm very bad at keeping secrets. Always when I was shooting The Suicide Squad stuff, I felt like the only ones who care about secrets were people that are involved with the superhero stuff. So they were always on me with any interviews because I would spoil stuff in them. But since I don't really have social media anymore, it's a lot easier to not make those mistakes."

Kinnaman compared the 2016 and 2021 experiences quite differently, calling the latter "more professional" compared to the constant partying on the Ayer set. While the actor isn't completely ruling out a return, it's contingent on how much Gunn and company want to keep exploring alternate realities, which we'll have to see when Superman, Man of Tomorrow, Supergirl, or Lanterns come out. If anything, the focus is more on Rick's dad, Rick Flag Sr (Frank Grillo), who finally got his revenge on Chris for killing his son, and at the end of Peacemaker Season 2, kidnapped him and sent him to a separate dimension without any means to get home. That being said, that's not to say we won't see him as Rick Flag again if the role serves a purpose, or the fact that, as an actor, he can literally play another separate role, see Jason Momoa. For more on Kinnaman talking about his time with Gunn and DC, you can check out the full interview. New episodes of For All Mankind stream on AppleTV on Fridays.

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