Frank Grillo: I Didn’t Know Who John Cena Was Before Peacemaker
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Frank Grillo admitted in an interview with GQ that before working with John Cena on the series Peacemaker, he didn’t know who he was. Grillo explained that playing Rick Flag Sr. in DC’s animated series Creature Commandos and later in Peacemaker has helped him bond more closely with his three sons.
Speaking about his youngest son, Grillo said: “We lost his comic book collection in a fire; we had another house in Palisades that burned down. But now his collection is ten times bigger, because DC and Marvel send things, and every Wednesday I take him to the comic shop.”
The son of the character Rick Flag (played by Joel Kinnaman) was brutally killed by Peacemaker (John Cena) at the end of James Gunn’s 2021 film The Suicide Squad. DC then launched a spinoff series for Peacemaker on HBO Max, whose second season was recently released.
Grillo admitted he had no knowledge of Cena or his wrestling fame: “I had done Creature Commandos with [Gunn], and he said, ‘I’d love you to be in Peacemaker,’ and I was filming Tulsa King. I said, ‘Both projects shoot in Atlanta—if they can schedule it, I’ll do it.’ But I hadn’t seen Peacemaker. I had no idea who John Cena was. I asked my son, ‘Is John Cena a big wrestler?’ He said, ‘You’re an idiot.’”
Grillo added that James Gunn hinted at even bigger plans for his character at the afterparty for Peacemaker season two’s premiere: “He turned to me and said, ‘You know what’s coming, right?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘We’ve got a big project—and you’re all over it.’”
Season two of Peacemaker consists of eight episodes, with the first premiering on August 22, 2025.
