Peacemaker was already five episodes into filming before Adrian Chase/Vigilante, originally meant to be played by Chris Conrad, was replaced by Freddie Stroma.
"We had already shot five and a half episodes with another actor, who's an incredibly talented guy," series creator and executive producer James Gunn said in an interview with Screen Rant. "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 we brought Freddie in, five and a half episodes in, and I reshot all of his scenes. And you're the first person who asked me that question, which I'm surprised by. But yeah, we re-shot. I directed all of the scenes with Vigilante in five and a half episodes."
It was reported early last year that Vigilante had been recast, with Conrad exiting the project over creative differences. This led to Stroma's casting as the antihero, who Gunn previously described as the "oddest character" on The Suicide Squad spinoff series.
Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, Adrian Chase as Vigilante first appeared in The New Teen Titans #2 in 1983, published by DC Comics. Adrian Chase and Vigilante previously appeared in live-action as two separate characters in The CW's Arrowverse. A first look at the character for HBO Max's Peacemaker debuted in September 2021, with an image of John Cena's Peacemaker sitting next to Stroma's Vigilante, who appeared to be the sidekick of the antihero.
Stroma might be best known for his role as Cormac McLaggen in the Harry Potter franchise, appearing as the character in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. He's also appeared as Dickon Tarly in Game of Thrones, Adam Cromwell in UnREAL, H.G. Wells in Time After Time and Prince Friedrich in Season 1 of Bridgerton.
Created by Gunn, Peacemaker will pick up after the events of The Suicide Squad. Announced as a television series in 2020, Cena will reprise his The Suicide Squad role for the upcoming HBO Max original series. "This guy is a loud, obnoxious, bro-ey douchebag," Cena previously said about his character. "That sucks. But why? At what point did he become such a douchebag and what does that mean? There's a lot to dive into there." This was addressed in the trailer, with Leota Adebayo nothing that he uses "being a jerk to push people away."
New episodes of Peacemaker air Thursdays on HBO Max.
Source: Screen Rant