Frank Grillo Talks Peacemaker Role, Gives Update on Kingdom Revival (Excl)

Frank Grillo is killing it.

The 60-year-old actor has been gracing our screens in some of the most iconic TV shows and movies to date — and somehow, 2025 is his biggest year yet.

“When you do get the job and you get to do the job, relax. And relax towards everyone else,” Grillo exclusively told Us Weekly of how he’d advise his younger self while reflecting on his monumental career. “Give everyone a break. You don’t need to be so overtly intense all the time, it’s not serving you. That’s what I would tell younger Frank.”

Grillo continued, “That’s what I learned. Now, I’m the opposite of that.”

While he’s calm, cool and collected off camera, Grillo spent part of 2025 returning as the high-strung Kansas City mob boss Bill Bevilaqua for season 3 of Tulsa King (and, yes, he’ll be back for season 4). He also appeared in one of the most-talked-about TV moments — maybe ever — from Peacemaker season 2, episode 6.

This particular installment of the HBO show, which aired in September, featured Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. paying a surprise visit to Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luther in prison.

Grillo was admittedly “oblivious” to the virality of that moment when the scene aired. However, the actor’s 17-year-old son Rio made it clear that this is “a big deal” for Rick Flag Sr. going forward.

“He goes, ‘No, you have no idea. You’re aligning with Lex Luther. … He, kind of, schooled me a little bit,” Grillo said, offering Us some behind-the-scenes secrets. Grillo and Hoult actually filmed the Peacemaker scene while they were on the Superman set. (Superman hit theaters in July, while Peacemaker season 2 premiered the following month.)

“It was really taken out of context for me,” Grillo explained. “We hadn’t shot Peacemaker yet, so it was very interesting. It’s a relationship that will affect the future of that world.”

Grillo promised Us that he “literally” has no idea where the story is going next — sorry, DC Comics fans. One thing he does know, however, is that there is not an opportunity for Rick Flag Sr. to have white hair just yet. (The animated version of the character previously sported white hair, while Grillo’s live-action version has kept his locks dark.)

“The reason why I couldn’t do it was because I was shooting Tulsa King at the same time, and there was a crossover,” he explained. “We tried everything. We tried a temporary dye, but nothing would come out fast enough.”

Grillo told Peacemaker director James Gunn earlier this year that if there’s a third season of the HBO show, he wanted to dye his hair.

“He said, ‘No, you can’t.’ He goes, ‘You haven’t heard about the plans?’” Grillo recalled. “Nobody told me about the plans. He goes, ‘Yeah, you can’t dye your hair yet.’ That’s all I know.”

Aside from Tulsa King and Peacemaker, there is that very specific corner of the internet who knows Grillo as retired MMA fighter Alvey Kulina on Kingdom, which aired on Audience Network from 2014 to 2017.

Us Weekly has been championing the show’s resurgence since September, when Grillo first revealed that he, alongside executive producer Byron Balasco and former costar Jonathan Tucker, had discussed getting the boys back together. However, there aren’t too many updates to share just yet.

“We dipped our toe in to see if people are still interested. Globally — and it’s the power of Netflix — it’s kind of unanimous. People really dug the show,” Grillo said. “We’re going to circle back to this and see if there is a version of a final eight episodes, stand alone with the three guys that are left and what happens.”

He added, “If we could come up with a great story, we’re going to try to pull it off.

As for where Alvey is now? Grillo knows exactly what his character has been up to since that heartbreaking series finale. (Spoiler alert, Alvey is dealing with the death of his son Nate, played by Nick Jonas, in the show’s final episode.)

“In my imagination, it’s like somewhere where Rambo was in the woods somewhere, chopping down a tree years later, and they come to get him,” Grillo said. “That’s how I see it opening. Alvey is somewhere out in the desert having done massive amounts of psychedelics and someone’s coming to get him, and chaos ensues.”

If they do bring it back, Grillo just wants “closure” for the characters.

“There’s gotta be a gripping story to tell, and there’s gotta be a fight,” he said. “I think there’s some good story to be had. … I would love nothing more than to do that.”