Steve Agee Was As In The Dark About Peacemaker Season 2’s Big Twist As The Rest Of Us

Steve Agee has his fingerprints all over the new DC Universe. A longtime collaborator with James Gunn, he has portrayed A.R.G.U.S. employee John Economos in The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, and Creature Commandos. He also donned a mo-cap suit as the on-set stand-in for The Suicide Squad’s King Shark.

In Peacemaker Season 2, John Economos joins his fellow 11th Street Kids as they enter a strange new dimension looking for Chris Smith, and it’s he who finds himself tied to a chair when the true nature of this universe is revealed — it’s a twisted, white supremacist world where the Nazis won WWII.

Agee knew it was going to be a major reveal, but what he wasn’t prepared for was just how quickly the fans picked up on it. From the very first episodes of the season, fans noticed there were no people of color in the alternate dimension, even among the background extras.

“When James sends us the scripts, we get them far in advance, but a script is not a visual,” he tells Inverse. “I mean, you read it, but there’s not photos involved or anything, and it doesn’t always describe the landscape that you’re working in. So those episodes where we’re in the other timeline, it never says everyone is white.”

For Agee, the reveal didn’t hit until much later. “When I was reading the script, I didn’t find out about that twist until Episode 6, and I was like, ‘Holy sh*t, this is amazing. Everyone’s going to go crazy. They’re going to flip out on Episode 6,’” he said. “People get really laser-focused, and they replay the episodes, and they pause it, and they look, and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, there’s no people of color.’ I was shocked by the script with that reveal because it wasn’t described in every episode.”

Steve Agee discussed Peacemaker Season 2, John Economos’ new role in Checkmate, and the future of the DCU as a whole with Inverse.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and/or brevity.

Did you keep up with the fan reaction regarding this series?

It’s so funny because I love watching recap videos. I hate watching myself, but after our episodes drop, I love going online and watching recaps and people showing all the Easter eggs and stuff that people might’ve missed and giving their theories to where the show’s going. I love hearing what people have to say about that.

I saw one theory that was like, “Hey, look at this scene. See how the American flags are always poised in such a way that you can’t see the stars.”

I’ll tell you what, even though I had read all the scripts and now knew that this was Earth X and it was a world where the Nazis had won, I didn’t even notice that there were flags on the desk. I just was not that focused on the set design, and I was shocked that people were like, “You can’t really see the flags.” It was crazy.

I saw a theory when Peacemaker is in Earth 2, and he meets Emilia Harcourt in the other world, who wears dresses and stuff, and he says, “What’s up? What’s happening, Harcourt?” And she’s like, “What? That’s a weird thing to say.”

I asked James this because I saw a fan theory that she was shocked because he said, “What’s happening?” Because that’s a phrase that was made popular in Black culture in the ’70s. And I was like, “Holy sh*t. I didn’t even think about that.” And so I asked James, “Did you really purposely do that?” And he’s like, “What? No, she’s confused because he called her Harcourt. Chris, in that world, calls her Emilia. I never thought about that.”

In the podcast after Episode 6, James Gunn revealed that in an early version of the script, Adrian’s mom in Earth 2 would appear making out with John Economos on the couch. How do you think he would fare as a stepfather?

Awkward. This is a guy who’s on a spectrum of some sort, [then] he found the 11th Street Kids and went through the events of all the stuff with the Butterflies, and that was like Vietnam to John Economos. That was his band-of-brothers, bonding-with-these-people moment. I don’t think he’s a very social person or bonds well, and that would probably even be with kids. The visual of John Economos making out with Vigilante’s mom is funny. I thought that was great. I wish it had happened; that would’ve been so funny. But I don’t know how Economos would be as a dad.

What do you think Earth 2’s Economos is doing? Do you think he’s still working for A.R.G.U.S.? Do you think he’s with the Sons of Liberty, like Vigilante?

I think he probably would’ve been following orders, but just as awkward. I mean, I’m sure the Nazis had people who were on the spectrum, too, who were kind of awkward and socially weird. I think he would’ve been pretty similar, much in the way that Vigilante 2 was similar to the first one, with everything the same except for the fact that he was Sons of Liberty and hated Peacemaker.

What was the best day of filming this season?

There were several best days. One of ’em was the first day of shooting, where we were all on the roof having the party. It was the first time we had all been together since 1, so that was just really special and fun. One of the best times I had was in the van with Tim Meadows. The whole “bird blindness” stuff was so funny. I’ve known Tim for a while. We’ve just never worked together, and I’m such a big fan, and it was so much fun.

There were a few lingering glances between John and Sasha Bordeaux in that finale, and now they are co-workers. Do you think there’s chemistry there?

I oddly saw some comments today, and I was like, “Wow, I didn’t even pick up on that,” other than there’s the moment where I’m like, “Oh, your boyfriend’s kind of annoying.” She’s like, “He’s not my boyfriend.” And I perk up.

During that scene, there was a take where she says, “He’s not my boyfriend.” And I go, “He’s not your boyfriend?” and she can tell that I’m interested. And she goes, “Yes, he’s my boyfriend.” She immediately is like, “Oh, I’ve got to shut this down right away.” So I think that the fact that I know that, even though it didn’t make the cut, I don’t think she would be into Economos. Who knows, though?

How would you describe John’s role within Checkmate?

Oh, very similar: computers. I think there’s a version of this where John Economos is the IT guy at Checkmate, constantly having to help people with their computers, and I think it’s pretty similar, although there’s probably more of an equal partnership with all of us in this world.

Have you heard anything about Man of Tomorrow?

I mean, I’ve probably heard about everything you’ve heard. I found out it was going to be called Man of Tomorrow when everybody else did. Unless you’re in the show and have a pretty significant part in it, James doesn’t give a lot up. He really doesn’t want spoilers getting out.

There was a lot of stuff in our scripts that was redacted for Season 2. The Lex Luthor stuff in my script was redacted, so I didn’t know about the Lex cameo.

James Gunn said the finale of Peacemaker is going to lead directly into Man of Tomorrow. How do you think this finale ties into it?

For me, I think it’s the introduction of Salvation. I think that was redacted in my script, too. So I think that’s a pretty big indication that that’s probably going to be a big focus of Man of Tomorrow. But to be perfectly honest, I have not heard anything. But I mean, unless Superman gets a job working at f*cking Checkmate, I think it’s going to be about Salvation.

What’s next for you? If you had to guess, would you say you’d be playing John, King Shark, or someone new next?

I feel like it’ll probably be Economos in something. I don’t know where it will be. It’ll be somewhere. I would love to do King Shark again; that was such a fun job. I haven’t heard mention of him yet, though, but I honestly would think James would put him back in. We’ll see. But I think we’ll see Economos again.

Peacemaker Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max.