Summary
- Antony Starr almost missed out on playing Homelander in
The Boys
due to initial lack of interest. - Starr was shocked by the dark and subversive aspects of
The Boys
comics when he finally read them. -
The Boys
series translates a cynical take on superheroes to the screen, with Homelander portrayed as a psychopath.
With Antony Starr having cloaked himself as Homelander for the past couple of years, it is practically impossible to imagine another actor in the role. But it turns out that the protagonist of the hit superhero satire, The Boys, nearly missed out on the role of Homelander. In a recent interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Starr revealed that he had almost no interest in auditioning for the character when he first received the script.
The Australian actor was working on another project at the time and felt obligated to put himself on tape just to get it over with. Starr told Meyers in the interview:
“I wasn’t familiar with the comic. I was actually filming something else when they asked me to audition, and I was like, ‘[I’m] far too busy doing this other thing!’ That’s true. But I finally put a tape down, almost out of spite, because my reps kept hassling me about it. I went to my trailer, at lunchtime, and got my iPad out and just literally spat an audition out. Sent it away and went, ‘Right, done, back to work.’ And then, of course, they love it.”
The Boys
- Release Date
- July 26, 2019
- Seasons
- 4
Hearing that Starr had absolutely no knowledge of Garth Ennis’ popular comic books that the show was based on comes as a surprise because he turned out to be the perfect actor to play the unhinged leader of the Seven. Starr has one of the most pivotal roles on The Boys, and over four seasons, he has turned Homelander into television’s most complex character.
Antony Starr Was Appalled By The Boys Comic Books
After The Boys’ team responded so positively to his tape, Antony Starr felt compelled to check out the source material. But after delving into the books, he was not only intrigued by Homelander’s depth as a character, but also shocked by how dark and subversive certain aspects of the comics were.
“I thought, I better look at what it is. So I looked at the comic book, and oh, my nerves. I was like, ‘How the hell are we going to put this on TV? You can’t screen that. This is obscene. My God!’”
Related
15 Worst Things Homelander Has Done on The Boys (So Far)
Beneath Homelander’s perfectly structured image is a psychopath who will stop at nothing to get what he wants; here are 15 horrible things he’s done.
Further explaining how the showrunners and the creative team managed to translate Ennis and Robertson’s deeply cynical take on superheroes to screen while also revealing how The Boys established his character as a bad guy pretty early on, Starr said:
“But the show is taking a lot of creative license. I think one of the beautiful things about the show is, I have heard this phrase thrown around a lot, ‘superhero fatigue’ and I think we are the antidote to that because our universe is completely 180. The good guys are the bad guys and the bad guys are the good guys right? So. Sorry for all the Homelander fanboys that thought he is a good guy. Uh, the giveaway was when he killed the guy on the plane.”
The Boys has become one of the most popular shows on streaming right now. The series is preparing to wrap up with its already announced five-season plan, and while fans remain eager, it’s okay to expect more twists, gory kills, revelations, and intense confrontations between favorite characters and superheroes.