Vigilante is a relatively obscure DC Comics character, but he's made a few animated and live-action appearances over the years. Arrow reimagined him as the villainous Prometheus, while Peacemaker is taking the anti-hero down a far more comedic route as Christopher Smith's obsessive best friend.
If you've watched the first few episodes of the HBO Max series, we're sure you'll agree that actor Freddie Stroma (who many of you will remember as Harry Potter's Cormac McLaggen) has been stealing the show. Chris Conrad was originally cast as Adrian Chase, but after starting work on the series, he walked away from the project over reported "creative differences."
Now, writer and director James Gunn has elaborated on the impact this had on Peacemaker.
"[Stroma] came in late. We had already shot five-and-a-half episodes with another actor, who's an incredibly talented guy, 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," the filmmaker explained. "So, we brought Freddie in, five-and-a-half episodes in, and I reshot all of his scenes."
"Yeah, we reshot," Gunn continued. "I directed all of the scenes with Vigilante in five and a half episodes." We're assuming this means there isn't so much as a single scene with Conrad left in the show as it sounds like Gunn even reshot the scenes with his face concealed by Vigilante's mask.
This allowed troma to reimagine the character as he wanted, and the actors are so different, it's hard not to wonder what Conrad's interpretation looked like. We doubt any of those scenes will ever be released, of course, but rest assured that Stroma continues to make a memorable impact in Peacemaker over the course of the next four weeks (only seven episodes were shared with critics, something Gunn has since explained was done in an effort to conceal spoilers).
What are your thoughts on Peacemaker's take on Vigilante?