Freddie Stroma Talks Vigilante Recasting for ‘Peacemaker’

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.)

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.

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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 pretty straightforward character. And then the one in Peacemaker is just basically James’s creation. So it was that way on the page.

You weren’t the Peacemaker series’ first Vigilante…

Yeah, there was another actor (Chris Conrad) who played the role for the first, I think, five of the eight episodes, and then it was a recast. So, it was all kind of a weird situation where I was in an audition, and (they had) made up a different character’s name for the sides. And then I had a phone call with James, and he was trying to figure out what was doable, whether we could do ADR lines over (the scene) if the mask is on. It was during COVID, so once I booked it, I flew to Vancouver and quarantined for two weeks, and then came out and continued the schedule with everyone else onwards. I would go with a splinter unit, and James would join me, and we’d reshoot the scenes without the mask.

So Conrad is in some season-one scenes (in the full Vigilante getup) that we see?

Yeah, he’s in a lot of the stuff — a lot of the master. And I went into studio and I did a kind of ADR and try and put my performance or spin on it with the already edited footage.

He’s 17 years older than you — do you have the same body type?

Yeah, I think that was honestly one of the deciding factors— well, maybe not the deciding factor, but [production said], “Listen, meet someone around this height, around this body shape.” Then, on top of it all, what they’re looking for is the actual character and actual acting performance, but [body type] was definitely a requirement, I think.

Is it the same suit?

Yeah, and it definitely didn’t [fit perfectly, at first]. It was tricky.

Nothing jarred me out of a scene in terms of, like, your voiceover not matching Conrad’s (masked-Vigilante) actions.

We kind of realized that the sound just didn’t quite work. Then I went and redid everything again, but with the mask on, so it sounds like I was speaking through the mask. That was definitely a different kind of situation for me, because usually in ADR, you’re either matching your own performance, or you’re maybe trying to…enhance it. This was a complete creative— I had to perform the scenes, but I also had to perform it exactly to (Conrad’s) movement. And, you know, you obviously (try to) hit certain words with the body language. It was an interesting thing to do, but it was fun.

Was Conrad playing for comedy like you do, or did the character change much with the recasting?

I don’t really know. When I got there, honestly, I did absolutely everything I could to not know anything about before. To have a crew having to reshoot, looking at you, going, “Alright, come on. Do better.” It’s quite intimidating. So I kind of never really went into any of that. But it was [the same] character. Nothing changed on the page, it was two actors playing the same role.

Does everyone on set love (Peacemaker’s CGI pet bald eagle) Eagly as much as we do?

Yeah, he’s got this sort of upheld respect. Everyone loves Eagly. Obviously, he doesn’t exist, so we don’t [fawn] all over him. But once watching it, we become audience members as well, and we all fall in love with Eagly. You kind of can’t help it.

He’s a great Mortal Kombat 1 (video game) character too.

I think at Comic-Con we played a little bit of it. It was amazing.

Your big break was Harry Potter (and the Half Blood Prince, and later the Deathly Hallows films). Did filming those movies train you to act alongside an eagle that isn’t there?

Well, kind of. I mean, to certain degree. It was definitely the first time in my career that I had to do some pretty extensive green screen work. And that was the first time I realized how challenging it was to be up on a broom that was essentially a bucking bronco, many feet in the air, harnessed. Then they’ve got— you know, the entire studio, these huge studios were all green or blue. And then they had a tennis ball that is Ron, another one that’s Harry and another one is the ball coming at you, and you’ve got to deliver your lines to all these things. You’ve got fans blowing at you, and you’ve got stunt men telling you to drop your shoulder. So, that was a very steep learning curve for me doing that. But, definitely, yeah, doing different things, you certainly get better at it.

Vigilante is the show’s comic relief, but Tim Meadows is here for season two — does his presence take some of the pressure off of you to generate laughs?

With James’s script, when I read it, like everyone is funny — or most people are funny anyway. Kind of everyone’s a clown, but I think James described this once as Vigilante is the clown of the group, so he is the comic relief. I don’t get many scenes with Tim. I only got to do one kind of quick bit with him, and I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time. He’s so good. I’m a big fan of his, so [filming] was so exciting. And I’ve seen the first couple of episodes, and he just knocked it out of the park. He’s so funny. Anything to add more comedy is always great, I think.

After [the one scene together], I had to apologize to James. Every time we were supposed to improv stuff, he kept just doing this amazing stuff. I just cracked up every time instead of acting.

Who messed up the opening credits group dance the most?

We did small groups for that. I think I had like, three sections, four sections or something. Then we did one at the end, which was kind of everyone. I think everyone’s agreed— this came up at Comic-Con so I don’t feel too bad saying it, but Frank Grillo. Also, you know he can take it. But he’s a martial artist, so you just expect him to be, you know, able-bodied when it comes to [movement].

You’re in good shape, lean and muscular, all that. But you have to stand next to John Cena half the time — what’s that like for the ego?

Well, it’s actually not too bad. If you’re in a show with other people who are kind of— you’re all in the same ballpark [build-wise] — it can be quite, you know, competitive or intimidating. John’s just so unbelievably big and muscular and shredded that I just don’t even think about it, because it’s just, he’s just so many leagues away.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.