Peacemaker is officially back with its long-awaited second season. As fans crest into the back half of the story with episode 5, Heroic Hollywood was able to sit down with Steve Agee, who plays John Economos in the series, to speak on his experience in the DC Universe and his road to playing everyone’s favorite loner.
Nowadays, it’s safe to say that most people know you as Economos. But some of your most iconic roles include Outside Dave from New Girl or Isaac on Superstore. Do you feel there’s something special to these smaller recurring roles that has been lost in the age of streaming?
I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know. Streaming has changed so much. I mean, it’s hard to tell, you know. My first acting gig was for Comedy Central. And then my next significant role was Outside Dave, and then Superstore. And none of those were streaming.
So, I don’t have a lot of expertise with the streaming world. But I think all those shows…you know, character actors are going to be everywhere. I mean, it’s how I’ve made my living.
Economos is the first kind of…I mean, I’m still a character actor, but I’m a series regular. Which for me is really rare. You know, of the six or seven seasons of New Girl, I think I did maybe 13 or 14 episodes. And it was pretty similar with Superstore.
So, I mean, the only difference for me in this is the amount of episodes I’m doing. It’s a full-time job now as opposed to coming in for a week and then waiting two or three months for another job.
Another one of your consistent jobs way back in the day was writing for Jimmy Kimmel Live!. How do you feel your experience writing for another comedian affected your own style?
I don’t think it affected my style. I started as a researcher on the show. My job for three years at Jimmy’s show was watching TV, looking for clips for him to show on the air. And I stuck around because I really wanted to be a writer. And he finally hired me as a writer. And I’m pretty sure that had I stayed much longer, I would have gotten fired.
I write what I know and what I think is funny. A lot of people don’t always think it’s funny. I wasn’t getting a lot of stuff on the air, let’s just say, in my time writing there. A few things here and there.
And it was a great learning experience for me. But luckily, Sarah Silverman’s show came along, like, right when that was happening. And I was able to kind of start my acting career that way.
One of the most viral moments so far in Peacemaker season two has been the bird blindness joke. What was your reaction when you first sat down with the script and saw that?
First of all, I thought it was hilarious. And once I knew that it was going to be Tim Meadows doing it, I was like ‘Oh, he’s going to knock this out of the park.’
I can’t tell you how many people since that episode aired have reached out to me and said they actually had to Google to see whether or not bird blindness was real. And I was like ‘Really? That seems so crazy.’
When I read it, it seemed obviously fake. Very funny, but fake. But then, as I’m watching the episodes, I’m realizing, in the last two episodes that aired, in our world on the show, it actually is a real thing because Tim can’t tell the difference between an eagle and a duck.
Economos is a very specific type of modern guy. How do you feel his journey in the show can help others who find themselves in this weird, isolated situation?
Economos is very kind of a creature of habit. He’s, I’d say, a little bit on the spectrum. He’s definitely got some mental health issues, none that he’s hiding. He’s very open about it.
You know, season one, he was pretty much a loner, you know, other than him working closely with Harcourt. And by the end of the season, Economos was friends with the whole gang, the 11th Street Kids, and had this family.
Which, as we go into the second season, we can see is very important to him. He’s really torn right now between his job and his loyalty to his friends, and he’s walking the line pretty well.
But I don’t know. I think he’s just kind of… I mean, James writes Economos, really, in my voice. It’s one of the easiest characters I’ve had to play in some ways. Not in every way, but in the fact that I am kind of scared of adventures, and the thought of going out and getting into a fight terrifies me.
And that’s, like, I think a very common thing for people. Especially comic book geeks and superhero fans alike. So I think Economos is very relatable in that way.
Do you feel there’s sort of a core wound inside of Economos that keeps him from connecting with others?
Yeah. I mean, we don’t really know his backstory, other than the monologue that he gave when he talked about why he dyed his beard, which is pretty tragic. So there’s definitely…and we don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely…he’s broken and wounded, for sure.
Hopefully, as the DC Universe expands, we get to find out a little bit more about his past and why he’s this way. But, yeah, he’s definitely wounded.
In Peacemaker, it’s pretty clearly established that Economos hasn’t had much in the way of romantic partnerships. But in the comics, he has four ex-wives. Is that something you have any interest in exploring down the line?
A hundred percent. The first thing, when people ask me, ‘What would you want to happen with Economos’ storylines going in the future?’ I’m vocal about saying I would love to see a love interest for Economos — however that would play out.
And knowing how well James writes, I’m sure he would make it incredible. So that’s top of my list for things I would love to see is a love interest.
And when I first booked the part for The Suicide Squad, as not just motion capture for King Shark, but the stuff with Economos, I looked him up online. And all you know about him is that he was a warden at Belle Reve and that he had a bunch of ex-wives.
Which probably says a lot about: A. He’s very serious about his job. But then also that he definitely has some mental health and probably some relationship commitment issues.
You’re in a bit of a prestigious club of working with Sylvester Stallone to bring King Shark to life in The Suicide Squad. But at the end of the most recent season of Creature Commandos, Diedrich Bader came in to voice the character. Did you reach out at all to help him get in the zone for King Shark?
No. You know, what’s funny is I did not know it was going to be Diedrich until I saw the actual episode. I saw it and I recognized the voice. I was like ‘Wait, I know – I know this person. Oh my God, that’s Diedrich!’
Like, I’m friends with Diedrich. Speaking of character actors, Diedrich’s another great character actor, with his stuff from Napoleon Dynamite. Oh my God, he’s the best in Office Space.
But I met Diedrich years ago, and then I did a few episodes of his show. I played his landlord on a show called American Housewife with him and Katy Mixon. You would know Katy from Eastbound and Down. She played Danny McBride’s love interest.
So that’s how I really got to know Diedrich. So I was actually really thrilled. Diedrich’s got a great voice, and he’s very funny and very talented. So yeah, I was happy it was Diedrich.
James Gunn has previously confirmed that you would return as John Economos in the upcoming Waller series. Is that still the case with how the show has been developing?
I think it’s still…they don’t have scripts. Or at least last I checked. I haven’t talked to James in a while. So I don’t know where they are with Waller.
I know that was a plan, I think, before he even started as co-chair of DC. So now that he’s got this new job, I don’t know timeline-wise where it will fit. Hopefully, it still happens, because I would love to see more of Viola [Davis], especially in this universe.
But he’s now writing or finishing up the script for the next Superman. So that guy is so busy. I think it’s something he would definitely have to give to somebody else to write at the very least.
So I think we’re looking at a while before we see that happen, but it hasn’t been counted out yet for sure.
(Editor’s Note: It has been previously confirmed that the Waller series will not be written by James Gunn, but rather Christal Henry (Watchmen) and Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol))
In recent years, you have been working very closely with the DC universe. Outside of that, do you have any plans or projects that you are trying to get off the ground?
I’ve actually been writing a lot with Freddie Stroma, who plays Vigilante on our show. Freddie and I became very close during season one. He lives in Atlanta, and I live here in LA.
So it’s a lot of Zoom meetings we do a couple times a month, and we’ll spend a few hours writing. Just like comedy stuff, nothing superhero-y. So there’s that. I’ve got a possible horror movie that I’m going to be doing here soon. So there are always some other things.
And I’m going to try and write another…I did a comedy music album a few years ago called Scab. And whenever I have a lot of downtime and nothing to do, I feel a lot more creative when I can just come in here and start trying to write songs. As fruitful as it is or isn’t, whether anything comes, it’s just something to do other than doom-scrolling on my phone.
Peacemaker season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the future of the DC Universe and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
