Summary:
- Episode 4 of “The Boys” season 4 features Homelander’s brutal massacre, revealing his deep psychological trauma.
- Antony Starr collaborated with showrunner Eric Kripke to retool scenes, allowing for a more nuanced portrayal of Homelander’s emotions.
- Starr enjoys portraying Homelander’s dark aspects, finding the freedom to explore extreme emotions creatively fulfilling.
The internet is still buzzing after episode 4 of The Boys season 4 dropped on Prime Video. A central focus of discussion is Homelander‘s (Antony Starr) brutal massacre in the hidden Vought lab, aptly named the “bad room.
The episode delves into the lasting psychological damage inflicted on Homelander during his forced participation in Vought’s Supe creation experiments. Starr himself played a part in shaping how Homelander would react to encountering the Vought employees who acted as his caretakers (and tormentors) during his childhood.
Starr reveals that he collaborated with showrunner Eric Kripke to modify the script for Homelander’s scenes. He felt the initial script restricted his ability to fully explore the character’s emotional turmoil.
“When that episode script came out, I saw the sequence of scenes and I went to [showrunner Eric Kripke] and we retooled them a little bit just to give more freedom on the day,” Starr told Variety. “Originally, they were scripted very specifically. There wasn’t a lot of room for me to move on the day. I went to Eric and I said, ‘I think there’s other places we can go and that I’d like to try and go.’ So we rejigged things.”
His resulted in a more nuanced portrayal that encompassed conflicting emotions – nostalgia, melancholy, and profound trauma – all culminating in a violent outburst:
“Eric’s awesome, he is so open, and so together we nutted out a few scenes. On the day it was just about showing up and going for it and just seeing what worked and what didn’t. I wanted those scenes to be very conflicted. On the one hand, there was some sense of nostalgia and a little melancholy and incredible trauma coming up, but also just a whole mix of different things. I didn’t know when and where and how, so we created a template that we could just go into those days and in that environment and just go for it.”
Despite the disturbing nature of the scene, Starr describes filming it as “really fun.” He thrives on the opportunity to portray the dark and bizarre aspects of Homelander’s personality. The ability to explore extremes on screen, unrestrained by real-world limitations, appeals to his creative instincts.
With episode 5 set to premiere this Thursday, fans are eager to see if The Boys can maintain the level of intensity that Starr enjoys.
