{"id":73880,"date":"2025-09-19T18:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/73880\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T18:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:41:08","slug":"danielle-brooks-is-a-superhuman-in-real-life-and-in-peacemaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/73880\/","title":{"rendered":"Danielle Brooks Is a Superhuman in Real Life and in ‘Peacemaker’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains spoilers for Peacemaker<\/a> season two, episode five, \u201cBack to the Suture.\u201d]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tDanielle Brooks<\/a> may not have superpowers in Peacemaker but she sure has proven herself as a superhuman, on and off screen.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 36-year-old actress, who caught audiences\u2019 attention with her breakout role in the Emmy-winning series Orange Is the New Black and then earned her first Oscar nomination for 2023\u2019s The Color Purple, is showing no signs of slowing down. <\/p>\n

\n\tBrooks is currently starring in season two of the DC Studios<\/a> and HBO Max series Peacemaker, which sees her character, Leota Adebayo, not only trying to help herself navigate life\u2019s challenges with a positive perspective, but also John Cena\u2019s Peacemaker. While she enjoys leaning into the \u201cchild-esque energy\u201d of the show, her role also represents something much deeper for her.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think it\u2019s so important to have Black women in this kind of space,\u201d she tells The Hollywood Reporter. \u201cThe action, comic book world is very rare and so that excites me that I can be that representation for people that relate to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, Brooks opens up about navigating a new version of her character in Peacemaker season two, what it\u2019s like working with John Cena and James Gunn, how earning an Oscar nomination has only fueled her aspirations and her goals for the future. She also teases the last three episodes of the newest season of Peacemaker.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow exciting was it to return for another season of Peacemaker,\u00a0especially\u00a0since it had been a few years since season one aired in 2022?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tJust to be able to come back was really great because I really enjoyed being on Peacemaker. I\u2019ve really enjoyed stepping into a different genre, being under the leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran has been so much fun. Even outside the fun part because for me, I know that\u2019s why I love acting so much. It\u2019s not because I collect the biggest check \u2014 which I don\u2019t (laughs), not yet anyway \u2014 it\u2019s not all of the perks. It\u2019s really being able to tap into that child-esque energy and getting to explore and be imaginative and just creative, you know, that to me is why I\u2019m in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother reason that I\u2019m enjoying playing\u00a0Adebayo\u00a0is because of what she represents. I think it\u2019s so important to have Black women in this kind of space. The action, comic book world is very rare and so that excites me that I can be that representation for people that relate to me, but then also\u00a0the LGBTQ community and playing a queer woman. It\u2019s just really powerful and dope.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDanielle Brooks in \u2018Peacemaker\u2019 season two.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCurtis Bonds Baker\/HBO Max<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter helping to stop the Butterfly alien\u00a0invasion in season one and building her confidence, your character, Leota Adebayo, is\u00a0definitely\u00a0trying to find her footing this season,\u00a0outside the shadow of her mom, Amanda Waller. Did you approach your character differently this season?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tDefinitely. Right now, internally, me and Adebayo are kind of aligned \u2018cause I really came in not knowing much about the comic world and how I would fit in this world? Would I be accepted in this world? And I feel like that was the same with [Adebayo]. She\u2019s like, I don\u2019t know, can I really do this? And that\u2019s how I felt. So now that I\u2019ve had a season under my belt and she\u2019s had time under hers, we\u2019re both on the same trajectory of let\u2019s live in the confidence, you know, let\u2019s be optimistic that we can do this thing. She\u2019s like gung-ho about finding a job and everybody else finding a job and making the thing happen, but she really doesn\u2019t know what the heck she\u2019s doing. So we\u2019ll see how that plays out for her. This season, I really do feel like she\u2019s just really been the moral compass for everybody, and just reminding everybody like, we can do it. We all are struggling with our things, you know, we watch\u00a0[Adebayo]\u00a0going through tough times with her wife and what she\u2019s losing because of the sacrifice she\u2019s made for the team. But somehow she really is trying to stay so positive about everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis season, viewers have also seen Adebayo be someone Peacemaker can rely on as he figures out his life too. What was it like having a better relationship with John Cena\u2019s character this season after the ups and downs of season one?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s great to work with John Cena. Like I really enjoy that guy. We\u2019ve become really good [friends], which was kind of surprising to me. I mean, he\u2019s a warm person, but we are just so different. So I\u2019ve really enjoyed our conversations. As far as their relationship, it\u00a0has been nice for\u00a0[Adebayo]\u00a0to know that Peacemaker does trust her and what she says is valuable to him. But they really are cut from the same cloth. They\u2019re dealing with the same issues. They both want love, they both want the love of their parents, but also know that they have to forge their own path and not be who they came from. So they are both struggling internally on what to do and so I think\u00a0[Adebayo]\u00a0is just giving Peacemaker the same advice she\u2019d probably give herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tStarring in a show full of superheroes and superpowers, how does it feel to be this highly intelligent and skilled human agent?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s really cool. I don\u2019t want to spoil anything, but I\u2019ve been enjoying it. Yeah, I don\u2019t have like specific superpowers and stuff, but she uses what she has. And the way in which James has\u00a0presented Adebayo, I\u2019ve still gotten to have a lot of fun. Like I got shot out of a cow last season and harnessed, even though I hit my head into a wall (laughs). But there\u2019s so many fun things that I\u2019ve gotten to do and even in season two that we haven\u2019t seen yet. So as an actor, like, bring it on. This is what I live for. I enjoy this stuff and\u00a0I hope that James decides to expand it. I hope that we can see more of Adebayo and see her with her mom in that dynamic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDanielle Brooks and John Cena in \u2018Peacemaker\u2019 season two.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCurtis Bonds Baker\/HBO Max<\/p>\n

\n\tDid it feel any different working with James Gunn this season, because when you filmed season one, he wasn\u2019t named the co-head of DC Studios yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe one thing I know about James, I can confidently say he\u2019s one of the hardest-working people I\u2019ve known. That aspect of him has not changed. I think there is more pressure for him, but I think he also handles pressure really well, because for him it\u2019s all about the story and not so much about, will people like this? I think he does start from,\u00a0will I like this? Do I gravitate towards it? I think that\u2019s so cool, and as I\u2019m starting to delve into different things \u2014 I\u2019ve started to write and I\u2019m starting to direct myself \u2014 I\u2019m in such admiration of him as a storyteller because he doesn\u2019t hold anything back. You can see that in his humor and how he writes and how vulgar it can be at times or how action-packed it can be, like he really says this is what I want and I\u2019m going for it and let\u2019s do it.\u00a0\u2026 But I don\u2019t think there was a big difference. I think he\u2019s stepping into a role that he\u2019s more than capable of doing and he truly is the right person for the job. You spend one day on a James Gunn set with him and you know he\u2019s gonna hold DC down, and clearly it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the end of episode 5, the gang sets out to bring Peacemaker back from this other dimension. What can fans expect from the last three episodes of season two?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOh my gosh, you\u2019re gonna continue to see double. I\u2019m not gonna say of who, but get ready to see more double. And it\u2019s gonna be emotional, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and then there\u2019s gonna be moments you\u2019re gonna be like, WTF (laughs). You\u2019re gonna go through a lot of emotions, like prepare yourself for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut it\u2019s some beautiful work, and I just watched the Emmys the other day and I would hope that people would start to pay attention to shows like this as well and consider them, because the work that my castmates have brought this year, the crew have brought this year, has been phenomenal, but specifically John Cena. His work these last three episodes of season two really deserves some attention, in my opinion. So I\u2019m just saying don\u2019t sleep on the comic book world, you know.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking back at what you\u2019ve accomplished so far, such as starring in the Emmy-nominated series Orange Is the New Black and earning an Oscar nom for your role in The Color Purple, how do these milestones and achievements impact the way you view your career going forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHell yeah! First of all, tomorrow [Sept. 17] is my birthday. I\u2019m 36 tomorrow, and so it\u2019s strange to me that I\u2019ve been able to accomplish the things that you mentioned at this age because in my head when I was 21, I was admiring people like Viola Davis and Regina King. But specifically Viola Davis and just feeling like, man, it\u2019s not gonna happen until late 30s, early 40s. Like it\u2019s gonna just take so long for me to achieve the thing. And it does take time (laughs), but it definitely did not take as much time as I thought it was going to. So with these milestones that I\u2019ve been able to hit,\u00a0I feel like the sky is the limit. I feel like there\u2019s nothing that I can\u2019t achieve or do, and I\u2019m always trying to be a little learner. \u2026 When I\u2019m around people like [Samuel L.] Jackson and The Piano Lesson and his wife who\u2019s directing a Broadway show for the first time with incredible stars and all this amazing crew, oh yeah, like I can do that too. It\u2019s just always these reminders of you get to create the life that you want, as long as I could stay in the mindset of educating myself, there\u2019s nothing that I can\u2019t do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDanielle Brooks in 2023\u2019s \u2018The Color Purple.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros.\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tIs there a specific moment when you were younger when you realized acting was your dream career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI remember being in high school and I had just gotten accepted into Juilliard for doing the monologue from Piano Lesson. And so the school had me do the monologue for some donors and they were all like white women in their 60s. At first I was like, yo, how are these women going to relate to this story? \u2018Cause this is about ancestors and slavery and taking back what\u2019s ours and I just don\u2019t understand how they\u2019re gonna relate. When I finished that monologue, when I tell you all of those women, which was probably like 12 or so, all came up to me and was like, \u201cI totally relate to this. I have a family heirloom that means so much to me,\u201d and \u201cI miss my grandmother,\u201d or whatever it was, like they were pouring into me how much that the specificity of my work they could see themselves reflected in. That changed the game. I was like, oh my gosh, this is the power of acting, like you can touch people who don\u2019t\u00a0know anything about your world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking ahead a bit, where would you like to see yourself in the next five years career-wise?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tA\u00a0feature film supported by a major studio. That\u2019s what I want. My own feature film that I wrote or co-wrote with someone that has been taken in by a studio and mass distributed, like that would be dope.\u00a0\u2026 I say co-wrote because I\u2019m open to collaborating, but I also wanna have more control. I don\u2019t want to continue to just wait for the industry to say, \u201cOK, we got something for you.\u201d I want to create my own opportunities, but I also want to showcase other people that I feel are talented that the world might just not know yet.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat does your perfect day off from work look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMe chilling. Getting to take a walk or I do like to exercise, so getting some kind of exercise in \u2018cause that\u2019s helpful for my mental [health] and for my figure (laughs). And then it would be eating cake (laughs). I know that\u2019s so bad. And watching a good movie or\u00a0going down a rabbit hole on YouTube for a little bit. And playing with my daughter, asking her how her day went and not having to clean up any dog poop. That\u2019s a good day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you had to describe what makes Danielle Brooks, Danielle Brooks<\/strong>, what would you say?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m a really kind-hearted, thoughtful person who has to express herself. I say that because when I\u2019m not working, you best believe my wheels are turning on how I can be creative. So that\u2019s important to me. And just trying to be the best human I can be and raise the best kid I can. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This story contains spoilers for Peacemaker season two, episode five, \u201cBack to the Suture.\u201d] Danielle Brooks may not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,50504,1981,18,117,19,17,4177,50505],"class_list":{"0":"post-73880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-danielle-brooks","10":"tag-dc-studios","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-peacemaker","16":"tag-person-of-interest"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}