Joel Kinnaman just revealed whether his DC Universe character, Rick Flag Jr., will return to the franchise after Peacemaker season 2.
The actor made his DC debut as Rick Flag Jr. in David Ayer’s 2016 film Suicide Squad. After the character died in James Gunn’s 2021 soft reboot, The Suicide Squad, he was revived on the small screen through flashbacks on Peacemaker.
In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley, Kinnaman admitted that Peacemaker season 2 was his final on-screen appearance as Rick Flag Jr. “I would say so,” he succinctly replied when asked if audiences have seen the last of his character. He called Peacemaker‘s version of Flag to be an “alternate universe, mealy-mouthed Rick.”
“Yeah, I would say so…An alternate universe, mealy-mouthed Rick, as me and James called him.”
Check out Kinnaman’s full interview with ScreenRant below:
Kinnaman couldn’t believe he was able to keep his Peacemaker appearance a secret, considering Warner Bros. was always reprimanding him for spoiling Suicide Squad information in interviews. “I’m very bad at keeping secrets,” he admitted, adding that he finds it easier to “not make those mistakes” now because he doesn’t have much of a social media presence anymore.
“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.”
After filming The Suicide Squad, Kinnaman and Gunn stayed in touch. One day, the director called him, knowing the actor wanted to work on a comedy project, and asked if he wanted to come back for a “little fun thing I’d love for you to do.” Kinnaman didn’t hesitate to sign on to the project.
“We’re friends, so we talk every now and then. He just called me and asked if I wanted to come in, and he was like, ‘This is this little fun thing I’d love for you to do.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come play with you anytime.'”
Gunn has said that he always envisioned that Flag would show up during Peacemaker season 2, but Kinnaman divulged that he had no idea about that plan. He considers Gunn a “mad genius” for thinking that far ahead.
“He’s a mad genius, so it’s hard to know what goes on in that crazy brain of his…James knows that I want to do more comedy and he thinks I’m funny, so that’s why he wanted to write something that was kind of playing to that.”
Reflecting on his time in the DC Universe, Kinnaman described himself as being “very unprofessional” in the 2016 Suicide Squad film. He and the rest of the cast were “partying all the time…It was a mess.” Having Gunn at the helm for the 2021 installment was like night and day, with a “much more professional” environment.
“So different. Yeah, it was so much more professional. God, I was very unprofessional in that one. We were partying all the time. Yeah, 2016. I mean, I feel like we were drunk and high all the time. It was a mess.”
Now the actor has said farewell to the franchise, with Peacemaker season 2 serving as his final appearance. Kinnaman has since moved on to other projects, including the movie Icefall and the TV shows Imperfect Women and Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole; the latter two recently premiered on Apple TV and Netflix, respectively.
He’s also one of the stars of the critically acclaimed drama For All Mankind, which tells an alternate history of the space race and earned Kinnaman a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor on Television (Streaming). The fifth installment is currently streaming on Apple TV, with the finale set for May 29.
Gunn is not working on Peacemaker season 3, but he’s still moving full steam ahead with the DC Universe, which will soon include Supergirl, Clayface, Man of Tomorrow, and Lanterns, after relaunching the franchise with Superman on the big screen and Creature Commandos and Peacemaker on the small screen.
- Release Date
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2022 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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HBO Max, Max
