Danielle Brooks had a hit with ‘Minecraft.' ‘Peacemaker's' return adds to her super year

Los Angeles Times

2 days ago

It's a good time to be Danielle Brooks.
She received an Oscar nomination for 'The Color Purple' in 2024 — her performance as Sofia also earned her a Grammy for best musical theater album — but Brooks has arguably had an even better 2025. So far this year, she has starred in the nearly billion-dollar-grossing blockbuster hit 'A Minecraft Movie' and voiced a villainous snow leopard in 'The Bad Guys 2.' Now, along with co-star John Cena, Brooks is headed back into the DC Universe for Season 2 of HBO Max's 'Peacemaker.'
Fresh off shepherding a brand new vision for the DCU with David Corenswet's guileless take on 'Superman,' James Gunn has devised this season of 'Peacemaker,' premiering Aug. 21, as a way to bridge what's come before with what's ahead. If there's a theme to the latest adventure of this goofy, earnest and foul-mouthed superhero it's that there is no running away from one's choices — for better and for worse.
The titular antihero-turned-superhero is joined on his journey by Leota Adebayo (Brooks), as perfect a hype friend as Cena's Peacemaker could have dreamed of finding. Other famed metahumans may make fun of his disco ball of a helmet and he may struggle with how best to turn his reputation around, but Adebayo is firm in her belief in the goodness of her often-bumbling muscled friend.
Days before heading down to San Diego for her first Comic-Con, Brooks sat down to chat and take stock of her journey into a world she once knew very little about.
'I grew up in a very reserved home. And so we weren't exposed to a lot of things. I didn't have an older brother or a cousin. Nobody was handing me comic books — somebody was handing me a Bible or a sheet of music to sing,' she explains with a smile.
But that wasn't the only thing that made this DCU project daunting when it first came her way.
'When I came across Adebayo, I just had my daughter, and we were in a pandemic,' she says. 'I had just gained like 60 pounds from my pregnancy. And then I get a call from James Gunn saying, 'Hey, you want to be in this action TV show?' And I'm like, 'What? I'm in the worst shape of my life. Yes, I can still act, but can I run?''
Gunn had seen Brooks in 'Orange Is the New Black' and had been impressed with her soulful and funny breakthrough performance as Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson, one of the inmates in Jenji Kohan's long-running Netflix hit.
'The depth was incredible,' he says in an email. 'I thought it was an opportunity to put someone unique at the center of a 'superhero' show.'
Like many of the characters in Gunn's off-kilter series that is a spinoff of 2021's 'The Suicide Squad,' Adebayo first arrived in Peacemaker's life struggling with who she was and what she could stand for. Overshadowed by the towering reputation of her mother — Viola Davis' no-nonsense Amanda Waller — the fresh-faced A.R.G.U.S. recruit initially couldn't shake off the insecurity that followed her every move.
'When you first meet Adebayo in Season 1, she's so flustered,' Brooks explains. 'She's so all over the place. She can't find her footing for anything. She's stumbling over her words. She won't even shoot anyone.'
Adebayo's journey mirrors Brooks' own. The actor initially approached this project with trepidation similar to her character.
'I came in with a lot of fear,' she says. 'Can I give him [Gunn] what he needs?' She knew Gunn trusted her gifts, and her desire to deliver a strong performance eventually helped drive her character work.
'That's a part of what I love about what we do,' she says about acting. 'It challenges you to be your best in every aspect — mentally, spiritually, physically. And so I was really excited to take on that challenge.'
Just as Adebayo found her place within the 11th Street Kids — which include Peacemaker, Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) — Brooks blossomed amid this tight-knit motley crew.
'She's such a big personality,' Gunn says. 'And this team in particular more so than any is a real family. It wouldn't be the same without Danielle's big laugh and her big heart.'
That big heart has shaped Adebayo into a grounding presence for those around her.
'That has become her superpower,' Brooks says, 'helping ground this group and saying, 'Hey, we can do this!' That's where we meet her in Season 2. She's so optimistic. They're all 'lost in the sauce' is the best way I know how to describe it. They're trying to find their footing when it comes to their relationships, their personal lives, their jobs — everybody's all over the place. But she's the one person that's like, 'No, we're gonna figure this out.''
Though 'Peacemaker' relishes raunchy punchlines and gag-inducing gags — the show features aliens, bar brawls, orgies and Eagly, a prickly pet eagle — it has been an acting showcase for its lead cast.
Brooks is excited for fans to see what Cena gets to do this time around. ('I feel like he leveled up this season,' she says.) But Gunn says it's Adebayo's arc that'll blow viewers away in this multiverse-focused second season.
'This whole cast is capable of so much more depth than I gave them first season,' he says. 'And Danielle's work in the Season 2 finale is some of the best acting work I've ever been a part of.'
That compliment may have quelled the initial fears Brooks had when she was preparing to revisit the character.
'With Season 2, it took me a little second to get back in the rhythm,' she says. 'I also had the pressure now of being Oscar nominated. Like, 'Oh man, this is the next thing you're doing after your nomination? Are you really that talented? Do you got it?''
She knew better than to give in to such intrusive thoughts. But it highlighted a new set of challenges she's facing as she begins shaping the next chapter in her career.
'You do get a confidence boost of, I do belong here,' she says. 'I definitely feel that. Because when I think of the actors that are nominated, they are the best in the game. So it's helped me to stand firm: I'm not going anywhere in this industry. I'm going to have longevity. And I knew that without a nomination.'
That latter sentiment was what Brooks chose to highlight earlier this year with her fans and colleagues alike on Tony nomination day. The actor, who is a Tony nominee for the 2016 Broadway run of 'The Color Purple,' shared a video to social media directed at those who might have felt they had little to celebrate.
It included footage of Brooks in 2023 learning she'd missed out on a nomination for her work on 'The Piano Lesson' and then a warmhearted pep talk where she shared what she had taken away from that experience: 'Let this light a fire to continue to bring good work where it's just undeniable,' she says. 'And not just for the awards, but for yourself and the goals that you have in life.'
It was a simple message born out of a desire to shine a light on how metrics for success within the industry can leave actors with a warped sense of their own value.
'That was a really hard time,' she admits. 'And it wasn't only because I didn't get Tony nominated. That stung, but it wasn't the only reason. It was a point in my life that I was like, 'Why am I doing this?' I was starting to not be happy in the thing that I love so much. And if I feel that way, I don't know if it's worth it, you know?'
That moment she captured on camera was a deflating disappointment. But it was also followed by a loving gesture: In the video, her husband Dennis Gelin appears from behind and gives her a kiss on the top of her head. Even as she processed her professional loss, Brooks was being taken care of by those who love her.
'I think a lot of times we hype up everybody when they're on that mountain,' she says. It's easy to celebrate fellow artists when they are doing well or appear to be — when they seem to be 'riding in the sun,' as she puts it.
'You know, like when they've got their sunglasses on and they're in motorcycles and it looks like they've got bags of money hanging out,' she jokes. 'That's when we celebrate and we put all those hearts and those likes on them.
'But what about when you are not there? When you're just feeling like you're sinking in the mud and you're reaching out, and nobody's there to hold your hand?' she adds. 'That's what I wanted for the people that weren't nominated that day: to know that there is a hand on the other side to shake and say, 'You still are incredible. You still deserve the world.''
They're the kind of words that sum up the warmth and ebullience Brooks has infused into characters like Taystee in 'Orange,' Sofia in 'The Color Purple' and now Leota Adebayo. These women orbit around the idea that you should take on the world not with a closed fist but with an open heart.
As we wrap up our conversation, a woman approaches Brooks in hopes of introducing her little girls to the actor. Brooks beams their way and giddily poses with them for pictures. While her role in 'Minecraft' may still be top of mind for most people, the excitement of seeing Brooks on a random morning at a Beverly Hills hotel had more to do with an unlikely project of hers: Netflix's renovation show, 'Instant Dream Home.'
It's another example of how Brooks' appeal and interests continue to set her on a path where every new project introduces her to wildly different audiences. And she wouldn't have it any other way.
'Life's too short,' she says. 'I want to know all of the gifts that have been given to me. I've always wanted to shape my career that way where you just touch everybody, just different people who have different walks of life than you. That is the most powerful thing you could ever do.'