Antony Starr, Chace Crawford on superheroes’ bad behavior

Since its 2019 pilot season, Prime Video’s fan-favorite series The Boys has earned universal praise for its refusal to take the path of least resistance.

After all, in an entertainment industry that tends to glorify larger-than-life superheroes, this violent, dark comedy – which begins its fourth season on Thursday (June 13) – easily subverts the genre.

In this alternate reality based on the comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, a team of vigilantes known as The Boys, led by former Special Forces agent Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), hold the world’s most powerful superheroes, collectively known as The Seven, accountable for their abuses, megalomania and self-superiority. They are led by the invincible Homelander (Antony Starr).

In short, Season 4 pushes the world to the brink of chaos, as we’ve seen in the news recently. Victoria Newman (Claudia Doumit) is closer to the Oval Office than ever before and is under the heavy-handed control of Homelander, who is consolidating power.

With only six months left to live, Butcher has lost Becca’s son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) and his leadership of the boys. The stakes are higher than ever and they must find a way to work together to save the world before it’s too late.

Now more than ever, the Boys are determined to stop the corrupt Super Heroes and uncover the truth about Vought Corporation, the multi-billion dollar conglomerate that manages the Super Heroes and covers up their dirty secrets.

Sure, there have been a slew of character arrivals and “departures” since the start of season one, but for the most part, The Boys consists of Butcher, Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Kimiko Miyagi (Karen Fukuhara), and Francis (Tomel Capone).

On the other side of the moral divide are the so-called superhumans who accompany Homelander at Vought International: Starlight (Erin Moriarty), Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), A-Train (Jesse Usher), Black Terror (Nathan Mitchell), and the dreamy and eerie Abyss (Chace Crawford).

Amid the characters’ shifting loyalties, the third season introduces the original superhero Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), who not only angers everyone but also strikes a blow to Homelander.

Meanwhile, Starlight aka Annie January stops playing dirty and quits The Seven, teaming up with The Boys to fight Soldier Boy. We’ll also see some great things from Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) and Firecracker (Valorie Curry) this season.

Good reviews

The series has been acclaimed by critics — previous seasons have ratings of 85%, 97%, and 98%, respectively, on Rotten Tomatoes — and, based on the previews we’ve seen so far, season 4 promises to be just as shocking, unsettling, and gripping.

Last week, when Inquirer Entertainment caught up with Anthony and Chase for an exclusive two-parter, we asked the handsome duo what they attributed the continued success of The Boys to.

Anthony, who looked handsome in a short-sleeved white polo shirt but almost unrecognizable with his beard, said their Prime Video show offers something different for viewers.

“When the first season came out (in 2019), it was right in the middle of (all the superhero movies),” notes the 48-year-old Australian Film Institute Award winner. “There were DC movies, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe was really taking off at the time with The Avengers and its cast of superstars.

‘Complete reversal’

“Audiences were inundated with superhero content at the time, and the industry was saturated. But we offered something unique, like a complete reversal of sorts, subverting the tropes and themes of the universe, and people really liked it. They were hungry for something different, and I think that continues to this day.” When asked Chace’s opinion on the issue, Antony smiled and added: “Yeah, he agrees.”

While Anthony and Chase’s characters sometimes find themselves in tense life-and-death situations on screen, with Homelander often bullying Deep into doing things his own ego dictates, the actors tell us that they actually adore each other.

When we asked them what they liked about their evil characters and each other, Chace looked at us and said, “About The Deep and Homelander…?”

We responded, “Yes, because they’re not necessarily role models, and you can’t not like your own character, right?”

Chas, who was wearing an olive green sweater that matched his striking blue eyes, exclaimed, “I love them (laughs)! I think they deserve their own show or a spin-off.”

Anthony turned to us with a wink and a smile and said, “Let me ask you a question: What did you like about the presidencies of Barack Obama and Joe Biden?”

Chase next to him widened his eyes and started laughing.

Anthony continued, “…because that’s how I see us. That’s how I see Homelander and The Abyss.”

Chase interjected, “I’m the President…?”

Anthony responded, “He (pointing at Chase) is Obama (laughing)!”

Chase turned his head and said seriously, “Okay, this is getting off track (laughs). I mean, look, I’m biased… I personally love working with Anthony. He obviously brings a lot to his character, so the moments we get to work together on set are the ones I really enjoy. I’m most excited when I’m working with Anthony.”

“I calmed him down a lot, like now,” Anthony said with a smile.

Referring to his character’s groveling behavior toward Homelander, Chace explained: “I mean, The Deep’s motivation is his fawning over Homelander. He’s always trying to please him, always trying to show you why he’s good enough, why he deserves to stay with The Seven and be number two.

“Unfortunately, it kind of affects all of his decision-making, so he just does what Homelander tells him to do. That being said, I still love seeing their scenes together. It’s just awesome to watch them together.”

Anthony agreed, “Me too. I mean, it’s actually one of my favorite relationships on the show. Of course, every character has a different relationship with everybody else, right? But, this is my favorite relationship… I love playing it on the show because the dynamic between us is so ridiculous!”

Chace said, “It is.”

Anthony continued: “Actually, anything could happen (between the two of them). So, it’s really interesting to see how it develops.”

Since the show has been on for three seasons and is now almost on its fourth season, we asked them how they think the fourth season will be different from the first three.

“That’s a great question,” Chace quipped.

Anthony said: “Structurally, Season 4 is different from the other seasons because in Season 3, Annie or Starlight left the Seven, so this makes the plot a lot more complicated…”

“It changes the dynamic between the characters drastically,” Chace asserts.

Anthony further noted: “Yeah, it does split things up quite a bit and puts the two camps in a very interesting position. So we get a chance to explore and get a little deeper into the mind of Homelander – or at least his little rabbit hole.

“This time, I took both the red and blue pills to see how far the rabbit hole would extend. It was really fun to explore this rabbit hole.”