Steve Agee reprises his role as John Economos from The Suicide Squad in HBO Max’s new hit spin-off Peacemaker.
For the series, Agee’s character graduates from being that superhero movie staple “the guy in the chair” to a gorilla-chainsawing secret agent, helping John Cena’s titular character tackle an alien invasion.
“I’m so stoked that we get to develop this guy,” Agee tells ABC Audio.
“You know, he was a pretty flat character in Suicide Squad, so it’s great for a number of reasons. I get to step out from sitting behind a computer and kill gorillas and get a body count going,” he adds with a laugh.
From its opening moments, the series went viral, thanks to an absurd opening dance number featuring all of its characters that runs at the start of each episode. Set to Finnish band Wigwam‘s 2010 track “Do Ya Wanna Taste It,” Agee explains that the opening put the group, first formed in 1968, back on the map — along with Cinderella, Hanoi Rocks and other bands writer/director James Gunn laced into Peacemaker‘s soundtrack.
“Wigwam is still a band, they’re still together,” Agee points out. “Their tour manager [recently had] fired them. Three days later, our show drops with, like, the greatest opening sequence of all time and kick-starts this band into full gear…[Now] they’re touring again. This has been a huge boost for them.”
Agee adds, laughing, “It’s been a boost for us! That opening number…it’s the thing I get asked most about. It’s like, ‘What was that like and how long did you have to rehearse?’ Yeah, it comes out of left field, man.”
The sixth episode of Peacemaker just debuted on HBO Max.
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