Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) has been fighting for her life in Peacemaker this year. The emotionally drained former A.R.G.U.S. agent has punched dudes in bars, battled Nazis on Earth-X, and, in season two’s closing installment, helped defeat tiny imps from another dimension. In between all this action, Emilia has avoided her feelings for Chris Smith (John Cena), a.k.a. Peacemaker, while chasing him down in an alternate universe where—of all things—he tried to enter into a relationship with her blouse-and-skirt-wearing, giggly doppelganger.
It’s safe to say HBO Max’s darkly comedic superhero drama served up surprisingly intense material for Holland in season two. And this week’s finale was no different, as she reevaluated her career, brought the 11th Street Kids together again to form the covert agency Checkmate, and even admitted some of her feelings to Chris. In the process, the actor delivered a strong performance. While series creator James Gunn revealed that he has no plans for a third season (yet), Holland tells The A.V. Club that she hopes to revive the character soon. She also talks about Peacemaker‘s timely themes, collaborating with real-life husband Gunn (who wrote and directed the finale), and the scene she’s the most proud of.
The A.V. Club: Multiverse stories are fairly common in comic-book adaptations at the moment, so what was your reaction when James Gunn first told you about Peacemaker season two’s?
Jennifer Holland: I was excited when I heard the whole story because my character had to do a lot of self-reflection about everything that happened in the season prior and even before that. I wanted to see more of what was going on between Emilia Harcourt and Peacemaker, especially between seasons, and also why she initially hated him so much. As for the multiverse aspect, exploring a different version of Harcourt and who she might have been if she had not had such a traumatic upbringing made me ecstatic. I found the way that James dealt with it to be exactly what I want to see personally. It’s an incredible dilemma for Chris Smith as well, who gets to see his family, whom he’s lost, and whom he feels lost without, again. He gets this version of them that is a dream, so he feels like he’s in a dream world, even if it’s not. It’s a beautiful way to use this idea of what if we ran into different versions of ourselves and what that would be like.
AVC: The alternate-dimension arc about Earth-X being ruled by white supremacists also feels quite relevant. Was there any nervousness about it while making the show or as it was airing?
JH: Yeah, it’s always nerve-racking when you decide to be subversive in some way or when you decide to tackle a difficult social or historical issue. You know the story that you had always intended on telling, but the beautiful thing and also the problem with telling stories is that oftentimes they become whatever the audience decides they are. You can’t control what that’s going to be, so you just never know. You can go, “I had the best of intentions” all you want, but that may not be the way it’s received for some reason. I appreciate James for that, as well as others who deal with a similar subject matter, like the creator and people behind season two of Andor, who tackled social issues really well this year. Did James intend to be political when he wrote this? Not really, but you cannot get away from that being the case. To be totally honest, we were in a completely different situation in our country when he wrote this story. It’s coming out at a time when it may have more of a different type of reflection on society than it would have in the time that he wrote it. So I’m really grateful and happy that people seem to receive it in the way that it was intended.
AVC: Was it intentional that the finale doesn’t really address Earth-X or the fact that Keith Smith is alive and might return for revenge, and opens up a new chapter altogether with Salvation?
JH: I can’t say that we had or didn’t have any intentions because I have no say in any of that stuff, but if I had to guess, I would say James kept that open for a reason. It was useful for the story that he wanted to tell in this season, but I think he’s incredible at creating villains with real personalities, so you have some empathy for them or understand them. It’s not some random maniac taking down the world or whatever, so I personally hope he explores that stuff more in the future.
AVC: The finale reveals what really happened on the boat between Emilia and Chris after building up to it all season. Why was it pivotal to see that flashback, however briefly?
JH: It’s cool to see how she opens up to him and starts letting her guard down, and then [they kiss] and she realizes she went too far to let someone in. She’s embarrassed because she promised Rick Flag Sr. that she’d make this person pay for what he did—and she promised herself, too. I don’t know what that means exactly for her, but I do think that she never intended to ever allow him into her life like this. She doesn’t allow anyone in, let alone the guy who killed her only friend. So she’s mortified at herself in that moment when what happens on the boat happens. Getting to portray how far she went to allow him in just felt like it was a rom-com for a couple of days of the shoot, which is my dream because I would love to act in a rom-com. James placed that as a flashback in the finale because he’s telling a story about this woman who has a toxic-masculinity problem. She’s completely closed off to everyone and cannot experience or communicate her emotions. I think that we, as an audience, needed to experience that with her to understand that she’s so fucked up that a simple thing is the crux of everything that has affected her relationship with Chris this season.
AVC: Talk about playing different versions of Emilia, especially in scenes like the interrogation-room confrontation with Chris.
JH: What I constantly thought of, and what was interesting for me as an actor playing two versions of the same character, was that I was very sensitive to not wanting the Earth-X version of her to be comically different than our Emilia. I didn’t want people to be laughing at her. I wanted people to believe the love story between Chris Smith and this alternate version of Harcourt. It was a delicate situation that I wanted to make sure felt grounded, so I looked at it and asked, “What would our Harcourt do?” She’s genetically the same person and has the same chemical makeup, just a different set of circumstances in her life.
As for the interrogation-room scene, when it comes to doing any sort of emotional work, I want to just understand the backstory and where it’s all coming from underneath it all. I’m a little emotional as a person, but that’s not who our Harcourt is. I wanted to play her as someone who’s pushing it all away in that moment. The challenge was to communicate that on-camera. I had such a great time filming that scene with James, John, and our camera crew. Chris Stryton, our camera operator, is a dance partner in some ways. We rehearsed the same day that we filmed it, with James working on the staging aspect. He wanted to keep the camera moving at all times so you can feel that, in the moment, Harcourt is trying to get away but has nowhere to go except talk to Chris.
That’s one of the things I love about working with James. He recognizes that the movement of a camera and the scene is very important to pick up on what [the character] is feeling or experiencing. It’s helpful for me as an actor, even if it adds a complex layer to the experience. It’s just natural for us as humans to move and talk, right? The only time you sit down and stare at a person while talking is when you’re doing what I’m doing with you right now. Even Harcourt is not someone who’ll look into a person’s eyes all the time. I’m also so proud of John in that scene. I couldn’t believe how incredibly present he was for me as an actor—not because I don’t expect that from him, but you don’t always get a scene partner who is so available and helpful. So I think that scene will go down as one of the most satisfying experiences I’ve ever had or may have in my career.
AVC: The finale ends with the 11th Street Kids regrouping, working together, and welcoming new members to their team—and then Chris gets kidnapped and thrown into Salvation. What does that imply and have you and James talked about when we’ll see these characters next?
JH: I feel like you want to see [this group] have a bit of joy because you don’t really see them winning throughout the whole season. Adebayo [Danielle Brooks] keeps saying she’s going to have this cool, successful business, but she doesn’t. Harcourt can’t even get a job. For all of them, it’s a series of misses. So to see them have a win and reestablish their camaraderie again is important in the finale; and James also just loves pulling the rug out from people just when you think it’s going to be an almost happy ending. But I know about as much as everybody else does [about the future of these characters], sadly. I was in a bittersweet situation and cried on the last day I shot in Savannah because I don’t want to say goodbye to this team of people that I work with and to this team that Harcourt works with. I’m not kidding or being hyperbolic, but I could literally play this character for the rest of my life. I love her so much. She’s incredibly well-written, and I’m not saying this just because of my husband. You just don’t get opportunities like this to play someone like Emilia Harcourt, so I just hope we get to do it again and that it’s not goodbye.