Freddie Stroma and John Cena in 'Peacemaker' Courtesy of HBO Max Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment James Gunn (and yes, Peter Safran and also Matt Reeves - and to some degree The Penguin creator Lauren LeFranc) is credited with reviving DC. Perhaps his single-greatest decision along the way was recasting the role of Adrian Chase/Vigilante in HBO Max's Peacemaker. (OK, so it's probably not really number one - but it's up there.) The role of Christopher Smith/Peacemaker's (John Cena) BFF and sidekick was originally played by Chris Conrad, who is probably best-known as Johnny Cage in 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. (At the very least, Conrad is best-known for the role among this crowd; Peacemaker and Mortal Kombat are both Warner Bros. IP.) Related Stories Movies James Gunn Says 'Superman' Got a Swift Digital Release Due to 'Peacemaker' Season 2 TV James Gunn Says 'Peacemaker' Will Set Up "Rest of the DCU" and Teases When Next Story in His "Superman Saga" Will Begin Production But Conrad-as-Vigilante just didn't do it for Gunn. In a 2022 interview with ScreenRant, Gunn called Conrad "an incredibly talented guy," adding, "but we were on different pages about certain things, and I don't think he wanted to continue on the series in the long run." So after five-and-a-half episodes (the first five and part of the season one finale) were already in the can, Gunn recast the dual role of Chase/Vigilante with Freddie Stroma, a semi-known actor who played Cormac McLaggen in a few Harry Potter films and Adam Cromwell on UnREAL. A lot of ADR and enough reshoots later, Stroma stole pretty much every Peacemaker scene he's in - and quite a few that Conrad is still in. In honor of Thursday's Peacemaker season two premiere, enjoy The Hollywood Reporter's interview with the show's breakout star - who also happens to be a neuroscientist, sort of - below. *** So... are you a neuroscientist? Well, I don't know if I'd call myself a neuroscientist, but I have a bachelor's degree in neuroscience. If not for acting, what was the plan? Honestly, I don't know. The path was always university and finding a degree that interests you and neuroscience was definitely my main thing - the thing that I found most interesting. I didn't really know what I wanted. Acting was kind of a dream. I managed to get in it as I was 18, the same year as I started university. So I kind of juggled my degree and went and auditioned and filmed things in London at the same time. I kind of juggled the two of them, and then Harry Potter was a bit bigger. So I took a year out of my degree to do that, and then once we finished filming, it ended up, luckily, that the movie wasn't gonna come out until summer - so I went back, I finished my degree, and then I carried on acting. How does the neuroscience education inform your acting? You draw from everything in life. I've drawn from aspects of my degree: attention and consciousness and just general philosophies, and certain things that I've read from acting books that I kind of link in with neuroscience. But nothing specifically - no character development or anything, really, it's more kind of the philosophy of acting and general ideas. How do you describe Adrian? He's hard to pin down - is he a sociopath? Yeah, it's a tough one. I don't have the qualifications to be able to give a label, whether it's psychopath, whether it's sociopath, whether it's on the spectrum, whether it's - I don't really know. I've had a lot of people come up to me and say that they think - they know he's on the spectrum. And I always respond that I can't really answer that question. Honestly, I don't have the expertise. We get some more evidence early in the second season that Adrian is asexual. Was that always on the page? Kind of. When I read [Adrian's reaction to the season two orgy scene], it kind of made sense to me. I can't really remember, but there a scene in season one of Chris seeing [Adrian] in the shower and makes fun of his, like, small penis. There was some (response) line, I can't remember what it was, but [Adrian] just sounded like someone who was completely unbothered - he just didn't care. It was just like he doesn't even really like sex. So, [it made sense] that he wants to do an orgy because he wants to bond with his friend, not for the sex. Your Vigilante is nothing like the Vigilante in the comics, who is much more of a straightforward crimefighter. Whose idea was that big change? That was all James (Gunn). When I auditioned for it and booked it, I started reading up on the Vigilante comics. And then I got the script, and very, very quickly realized that they're not the same character at all. [In the comics], he's level headed. He's a very standard guy. Literally, his name is Vigilante. He's a [district attorney] and he fights crime. It's a pr