Joel Kinnaman wants DC Comics fans to believe he will not reprise his role as Rick Flag Jr. in HBO’s Peacemaker.
Kinnaman first appeared in the DCEU film Suicide Squad in 2016 and reprised his role in James Gunn‘s The Suicide Squad in 2021.
Although Kinnaman’s character was killed off in the 2021 film, there are rumors that he would appear in Gunn’s Peacemaker Season 2, which gives continuity to that timeline. Earlier this year, the director of the HBO series, Peter Sollett, tagged Kinnaman in a show wrap post (later deleted), which hinted that Rick Flag Jr. would show up somehow.
“I don’t know what to say. That’s ridiculous,” Kinnaman told Screenrant about returning to the DC Universe. “I would never. I would never be on a show like that. It’s not what I do. It’s not what I do.”
DC and HBO have not revealed if Kinnaman will guest star in the new season of Peacemaker, and the actor’s response to the rumors has some fans speculating it was a way to throw everyone off.
Rick Flag Jr. may or may not be back, but the character’s father, Rick Flag Sr., will show up in Peaceamaker Season 2. In a new interview, the DC Studios co-head told EW that Rick Flag Sr. will be featured in “Superman, and he’s an incredibly important part of Peacemaker. He is one of the primary characters in Peacemaker season 2. So we get to see this character from different angles, and he is not simple.”
Frank Grillo will play Rick Flag Sr., who will make his first appearance in the animated series Creature Commandos, premiering this fall on Max.
“This isn’t just a good guy, not at all,” Gunn said. “We see all different sides of his character. He is morally a complex human being. Grillo is somebody who I’ve known for a little while, and I’ve wanted to work with him for a long time. He was one of the first people that I talked to when I took over the studio, like ‘we’re going to find something cool for you,’ and now he is everywhere.”