Jennifer Holland, who plays A.R.G.U.S agent Emilia Harcourt in the DCEU series Peacemaker, explains how costar Danielle Brooks made her job working on the show much harder. Created by James Gunn as a spinoff from his 2021 action comedy The Suicide Squad, the series sees the return of John Cena as the titular jingoistic antihero joining the A.R.G.U.S black ops team "Project Butterfly" in a mission to destroy a parasitic life-form that takes-over human bodies. The black-comedy superhero series is the first television show set within the DCEU and has earned itself a mountain of positive reviews, with the Peacemaker finale breaking the viewership record for best single day performance for a HBO Max original series.
Along with Cena, the series also sees both Holland and Steve Agee reprise their roles from The Suicide Squad as A.R.G.U.S agents Emilia Harcourt and John Economos, who were previously seen checking-in on a hospitalized Peacemaker ahead of his recruitment at the end of the original film. They're joined in their bizarre mission by a host of new characters, including Leota Adebayo (Brooks), the daughter of A.R.G.U.S leader Amanda Waller, and the crime-fighter Vigilante (Freddie Stroma). From the off, Harcourt proves to be very stoic and cold towards her teammates, particularly Peacemaker, knowing full well that she is merely made a part of "Project Butterfly" as revenge for disobeying Waller. However, as the series progresses, she begins to develop a stronger relationship with the rest of the team, even defending Peacemaker when a forged diary left by Adebayo is left in his trailer to incriminate him.
But while Harcourt initially found it difficult to warm to her teammates, it's evident that this was not as easy at it looked to pull-off for Holland, especially with Brooks. When asked about the developing relationship between the two characters across the series in an interview with ComicBook, Holland reveals how Brooks "made my job so hard, because she's just so lovable and charming". The actor elaborates on how, despite all the work she had done on the character before filming, it was a real challenge to not like her costar on-screen:
Oh, man. I've said this before, but I did all of this work on my own on the character, and how she felt about Adebayo, and what that dynamic was like for her. You can't prepare for what the other actor is going to give you. So when I first meet Danielle, I'm like, "Oh, sh-t. She's like the sweetest, most charming, lovely human being. You couldn't be mean to her if you tried, in real life." She made my job so hard, because she's just so lovable and charming. That was an unexpected dynamic. I was going to have to really try to not like her at the beginning of the series.
Gunn's spinoff series has acted as a revealing expansion of Harcourt's character, who had a supporting but notable role in The Suicide Squad, helping to guide Task Force X when they went off-mission to defeat Starro the Conqueror. After reluctantly joining the team in Peacemaker she is eventually made the new leader following her improved relationship with each member and is even rescued by Adebayo during the final battle against the interstellar butterflies. Holland had extensively prepared for her larger role in the series, even undergoing intense stunt training for her fight scenes during the shoot, with her background in gymnastics proving to be a useful advantage.
This revelation regarding the dynamic between Holland and Brooks off-screen will no doubt be an entertaining piece of trivia for fans of the series, especially when re-watching their complicated on-screen relationship. And given that Peacemaker season 2 has already been confirmed, many viewers may speculate quite how far this real-life bonhomie between the two actors will translate into the ongoing story of the antihero and the A.R.G.U.S team moving forward. Regardless, it's clear that wherever the new season will take Harcourt and Adebayo and their interactions with each other, Holland will certainly be more prepared for the "unexpected dynamic" when filming for Peacemaker season 2 gets underway.
Source: ComicBook
