Peacemaker Season 2 is here, and there’s at least one surprise HBO Max managed to preserve until the premiere day: the identity of the mystery role played by actor David Denman. We knew he would be in the season of the series, but not what he was playing. Now, thanks to the premiere episode, we know, and it’s a biggie… So spoilers past this point: David Denman is playing the grown-up, alternate dimension version of Peacemaker’s (John Cena) brother, Keith Smith.
In case that means nothing to you, here’s the deal. Back in Season 1, we discovered that Keith had died when he and Chris (Peacemaker’s civilian identity) were young. It wasn’t until later in the freshman season that we discovered how that happened… Specifically, when Chris and Keith were kids, their father Auggie (Robert Patrick) used to make them fight bare-knuckle for the amusement of his racist, Aryan gang. During one of those fights, Chris punched Keith so hard he had a seizure and died, which led to a rift between Chris and Auggie, and ultimately the moment in Season 1 when Chris shot and killed his father.
In the Season 2 premiere of Peacemaker, the main MacGuffin is the Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC), a portal to a room with 99 doors leading to other dimensions. As discovered by Peacemaker’s faithful sidekick Eagly, one of those doors leads to a dimension where not only is Auggie still alive, but so is Keith, as Chris discovers after drunkenly wandering away from a bisexual orgy happening in his own house.
As he wanders through the mansion that the alternate Chris, Auggie, and Keith live in, his brother pulls up in a truck. And then after a fond greeting, our stunned Chris has a night of drinks and laughs with his “brother” and “father.” It ends with Chris telling Keith he loves him, to which the latter tells him to get out of here, but lovingly.
There’s more to the episode, but that’s the long and the short of it for David Denman’s role. There’s more we should discuss with Keith, though.
Who Is Keith From DC Comics?
So one other detail about this other universe — DC2, if you will… In it, Auggie, Chris, and Keith are on a superhero team known as the Top Trio. We know Chris is Peacemaker, and Auggie was revealed to be The White Dragon in Season 1. So, what about Keith? We get to see his superhero costume in clippings on the family’s trophy wall. And he’s also in costume in the opening credits. So who is Keith from DC Comics?
Ummm… Nobody. The TV show invented this character and substituted Peacemaker’s brother for his father. In the comics, Peacemaker had a mental breakdown after the death of his father, who he discovered was a Nazi, and was haunted by his ghost. In the show, they play off that with Auggie, but the exact details are different. And as for the costume Keith is wearing, it certainly could be a known DC Comics character, but it doesn’t immediately look like any I’ve ever seen.
Mild non-spoiler, but you also won’t get any clarity on this, at least in the first five episodes provided for critics. So if Keith is dressed as, say, Rocket Red (a Russian superhuman in an Iron Man-style suit in the comics), we’ll have to wait and see.
Who Is David Denman, The Actor Who Plays Keith On Peacemaker Season 2?
David Denman is probably best known for his role as Roy Anderson, Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) boyfriend — at least initially — on The Office. What’s kind of funny about this is that James Gunn was previously married to Fischer. Though they’re divorced, they are still reportedly friendly. But it’s like a mixed-up six degrees of separation thing.
Denman also played Frank Sheehan on HBO’s Mare of Easttown, Ed on 2013’s Parenthood, and Kurt Dockweiler on five episodes of Bosch: Legacy. On the big screen, he made his debut in 2000’s The Replacements, and also appeared in Brightburn and The Equalizer 3.
You can join his (as of this writing) 43.3k followers on Instagram, where he’s been spending a bunch of time posting about his Peacemaker role (without spoiling it).
Peacemaker Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
Peacemaker season 2 will officially premiere on HBO Max on Thursday, August 21. The season will be eight episodes long, with one episode premiering per week.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Peacemaker Season 2, with premiere dates:
- Thursday, August 21, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 1
- Thursday, August 28, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 2
- Thursday, September 4, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 3
- Thursday, September 11, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 4
- Thursday, September 18, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 5
- Thursday, September 25, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 6
- Thursday, October 2, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 7
- Thursday, October 9, 2025: Peacemaker, Season 2, Episode 8 *Season Finale*
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