This year we had the pleasure of hosting twoCollider Ladies Nightpanels atSan Diego Comic-Con.The firstleaned heavily into the horror genre by putting the spotlight onDafne Keen,Sophie Nélisse,Alexandra Shipp,Katie Douglas,Hassie Harrisonand their upcoming IFC and Shudder titles. Then, the next night, I had the great honor of taking the stage withDanielle Brooks,Jennifer Holland,Danielle PinnockandMarissa Bodeto celebratePeacemaker,The Bad Guys 2,GhostsandWicked.
Every edition of Collider Ladies Night demands a significant amount of prep work, including these live versions of the show. But, ultimately, the success of a Ladies Night interview comes down to the guests, and with this group, we truly hit the jackpot. Bode, Pinnock, Holland and Brooks all took the stage with a sky-high passion for their current projects, a deep respect for what it took to hit this point in their careers, and an eagerness to celebrate one another.
During the panel, Holland recalled first moving to Hollywood as a teenager and her ongoing journey of finding a sense of belonging, Pinnock looked back at her time “scamming” and the day she found out she booked her first series regular role, Brooks discussed why her time at Juilliard teed her up for great success in the superhero genre, and Bode discussed making her feature debut with one of the biggest hits of 2024,Wicked.
After that, all four took a moment to look forward to all the good on the horizon - specificallyPeacemakerSeason 2, GhostsSeason 5 andWicked: For Good.
Adebayo & Harcourt Have Changed in ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 - For Better or Worse
Jennifer Holland also teases a scene from Season 2, Episode 6 that she’s especially proud of.
After screening aPeacemakerSeason 2 clip exclusive to the Collider Ladies Night audience at SDCC, Brooks and Holland broke downhow their characters have evolvedfrom Season 1 to Season 2.
Brooks began by looking back at Adebayo’s Season 1 journey. “When we first meet Adebayo, she really is kind of all over the place.” While finding her place in the 11th Street Kids, she builds relationships with characters likeJohn Cena’s Chris Smith (Peacemaker) and, in the process, gains her confidence. In fact, she gains so much confidence that at the end of the season, Adebayo exposes her mother, Amanda Waller’s (Viola Davis) secrets. Brooks continued:
“When we meet her in Season 2, the one thing that I think has been consistent about Adebayo has been her optimism. There is just something about her that is like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m going to believe that this thing is going to happen.’ And I think that’s where we meet her at the top. I’m not going to ruin anything for y’all, but I think out of all of the characters in the beginning of Season 2, she’s the one that’s holding on to optimism. What I do see in her is that she’s more comfortable in the group. This is her family now. This is her tribe, and so she wants the best for every last one of them.”
While things are looking up for Adebayo, Holland’s Harcourt is in a different situation. She began, “I think one of the really cool things about James as a writer is that he really does want to see his characters evolve and continue to grow in different ways, whether that’s growing in a positive way or regressing.” Cena’s Chris has taken steps forward. Brooks’ Adebayo has, too. Harcourt? Not so much. Holland explained:
“My character was sort of the put-together, very capable and reasonable character in Season 1, and through the course of what happens, she almost dies in Season 1, and she loses her job because of something that Adebayo does at the end of Season 1. So, in losing her job, and I think probably through the experience of almost dying and being in one of the most vulnerable places she’s ever been in in her life, I think what happens for her is she hardens even more, and so she regresses in a certain way in Season 2.”
While the character of Harcourt regresses, Holland took two significant leaps forward as an actor. The first thing she highlighted was how she embraced how the events of Season 1 could change Harcourt physically:
“I was very fit in Season 1, but I wanted to look like I went through rehab after almost dying and just got really strong so that she could never be taken advantage of again. I wanted her to really, truly look like she was strong enough to beat up a lot of large men, and so I really worked on building muscle mass, which is something I’ve never done in my life.”
The second thing was a Season 2 performance beat she’s particularly proud of:
“I have one scene particularly in Season 2 ofPeacemakerwith John Cena, and I am really proud of it. I think it’s a really beautiful scene. I’m proud of John and the amount that he’s grown as an actor. He’s just such an incredible actor. I hope some day he is rewarded and awarded in some way for how great of an actor he is.”
Brooks jumped in, “I second that,” and Holland added, “I’m so incredibly proud of that scene. It’s in Episode 6, and you’ll probably know what it is when you watch it - if you do watch it. I hope you do.”
Welcome to Your “Soft Girl Era,” Alberta!
“[Pete] is truly the moral compass of the show, and he’s dating a murderer!”
‘Ghosts’ Star Asher Grodman Reveals What Hetty and Trevor Are to Each Other [Exclusive]
Grodman also compares “H-Money” to one of the most iconic sitcom couples of all time.
We’ve seen a few relationships flourish onGhosts. Of course, there’s Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) who, yes, encounter challenges each step of the way, but always emerge stronger than ever. Flower (Sheila Carrasco) and Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long) made their relationship official, and Trevor (Asher Grodman) and Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) continue to keep fans on their toes. But, all eyes were on Pete (Richie Moriarty) and Alberta at the end of Season 4.
Pete’s had a thing for Alberta since the very beginning of the show, but it took nearly four full seasons for Alberta to recognize that the feelings were mutual, and then, in the Season 4 finale, the two finally kiss. While the highly anticipated moment filled many hearts back in May, just because Pete finally made a move, it doesn’t mean it’ll be smooth sailing for the duo. Pinnock teased:
“Alberta is in her soft girl era, okay? She’s dated all these bootleggers, and we had Lamorne Morris, who was also a fling of hers, who was in the Negro Baseball League. I think, for her, which I also identify with, is I used to find toxic men so exciting, like I needed that dopamine hit. Alberta, she’s dated murderers, and she may have murdered a couple of people herself, but someone like Pete is really going to cut through that vulnerability in a real way. And I think she was like, ‘You know what? I deserve peace. I deserve affirmation. I deserve love.’ But I am so excited to see how this evolves in Season 5, because it’s going to be tricky. Because Pete is the nicest of all of the ghosts. He is truly the moral compass of the show, and he’s dating a murderer, you know? So, I cannot wait to see how this flourishes, and I’m just really excited to be on the ride.”
Marissa Bode Promises More “Witchiness” for Nessarose in ‘Wicked: For Good’
We’re going to see a very different Nessa after that time jump …
Wickedis an incredible first feature for an actor on-the-rise for a multitude of reasons, but one especially exciting one for Bode is how Nessa evolves fromWickedtoWicked: For Good. In the first film, Nessa has great hope for the future as she gains some independence while beginning her studies at Shiz University and also as she follows her heart, which is pointing directly toward Boq (Ethan Slater). While the world seems full of possibilities initially, then, Nessa’s world is rocked, first when she notices Boq is drawn to someone else, and then again when her sister, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), defies The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and becomes an enemy of Oz.
During the panel, Bode offered up a little tease of how the events of the first film will inform who Nessa’s become inFor Good:
“There’s, of course, a time jump from the first film to where we are at in the second film, so there’s a lot of time for a lot of growth, or not growth, depending - or growing in different ways, I guess I should say. A lot of witchiness to be had. A lot more to come in those regards, for sure. This really is the effects of everything, of course, that happens in the first film, but especially towards the end of the first film, all the effects of what happened in that last scene definitely come to a height in Part Two. I’m so ready! I’m so excited.”
Bode also took a moment to address howFor Goodput her to the test when it comes to scene work:
“There’s a lot of intensity, of course, in the second film. Also in the first film, but in the scene work that I did in the second film, a lot of intense scene work. This is me calling myself out in terms of attention span. Sometimes I do have TikTok brain in terms of a short attention span, but I really stayed very concentrated doing a lot of that scene work, and really was in the zone and just on top of obviously having very high expectations of myself. I really, really wanted to put my all into it, and I really do feel like I did. I’m really proud of the scene work that I put into Nessa in For Good.”
Looking for even more from this electric and wildly talented foursome? You can find just that in the full Collider Ladies Night Live panel from SDCC 2025 in the video at the top of this article, or you can listen to it in podcast form below:
