#Peacemaker Star Steve Agee On That Gory Gorilla Kill In Episode 5: ‘So Satisfying’

In “Monkey Dory,” things are looking bleak for most of the members of Project Butterfly when they encounter Charlie, a super-strong, super-smart gorilla enhanced by the butterfly in its brain. The crew are getting their heinies handed to them by the enormous ape: Both Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) unloaded their guns into the big guy with little effect, and even Vigilante’s (Freddie Stroma) sword didn’t seem to do much damage. Enter John Economos, described by Peacemaker as a “f***in’ stud,” saving the day with a chainsaw. He saws ol’ Charlie in half, spraying Peacemaker and himself with blood and gore in the process. While Vigilante is a little frustrated because he wanted to be the one killing someone with a chainsaw, everyone else is thrilled that Economos turned up. 

On “Podly,” Agee said that the experience was honestly a lot of fun:

“It sounds disturbing to say that that was satisfying, but I read through all the scripts at once, and when I got to that part, it was all bets were off. I was like, ‘This is the moment I’m looking forward to in the shoot.’ This was five episodes in, so I had to wait months until we got to it. I was just like, ‘That was great what you did, Cena, but I’m gonna kill a gorilla in episode 5.’ It’s a super-monster gorilla. It’s not like I broke into a zoo and chainsawed a gorilla. It’s an earned kill. This was earned! All you activists, it was completely CGI, so calm down. I was literally chainsawing a giant board in front of me, so you’re all good.”

There was just one thing that Agee didn’t entirely count on, and that was being soaked in fake blood for days at a time.

“You’re reading it and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna be drenched in blood, this is gonna look so cool.’ And then it starts to dry and get sticky, and it’s really sticky, and anything you touch is then covered in blood. This was like halfway through shooting the episode, and it’s like, oh my god, I have to get put into this blood every day now for the next week just to sit in the office and be like, ‘Yeah, I killed the gorilla,’ (laughs). Be careful what you wish for: blood is gnarly.”

John Economos is pretty gnarly too, Mr. Agee. Pretty gnarly indeed. 

New episodes of “Peacemaker” premiere Thursdays on HBO Max.