We asked The Boys cast what they would do to make Homelander grovel—here's what they said

The already wild, wild world of The Boysand its chaos, gore, horniness, and dark humor reached new heights this year in the popular superhero series' recently-wrapped fourth season.

With eight jaw-dropping episodes on Prime Video, this season had fans on the edge of their seats the whole way through. Out gotthe chance to sit down with the cast and creators of The Boys (which, get this, has already been renewed for a fourth and fifth season!) to get the inside scoopabout season four, what odd task they would make Homelander do, the social dynamics shifting throughout the season, and the appreciation of this genre in the Hollywood space.

Out.com: With Homelander ramping up his menace factor this season, if the characters from The Boys were suddenly thrust into a different genre, like the world of reality television, what reality show do you think Homelander would thrive in?

Antony Starr: Love Island (laughs). Homelander could just sort of dominate everything and everyone and, you know, be a good villain.

Sister Sage and Firecracker are making waves as new members of The Seven with Firecracker trying her hardest to please Homelander and Sister Sage mores standing her ground. How do the contrasting approaches of Sister Sage standing her ground and Firecracker trying to please Homelander influence their integration into The Seven, and what deeper themes about power and loyalty does this dynamic explore?

Susan Heyward: I would say Firecracker's loyalty is kind of to the greater vision that Homelander has been promoting under Homelander. I don't think Sage has the same.

Valerie Curry: I would argue that there is something that they share, actually, which is that neither of them are scared of him for very different reasons. Firecracker genuinely believes that he is the idol of her vision and that has a kind of, like, trust in the parasocial intimacy that she's built with him. For Sage, for very different reasons, is able to, like, speak her mind.

Given Ashley's growing frustration with Homelander and The Seven this season, how might her increasing discontent impact her handling of public relations crises, especially when her personal ethics conflict with corporate interests? Could this lead to her making bold decisions that undermine Homelander's authority or aligning with characters outside of The Seven?

Colby Minifie: That's a good question. I feel like Ashley is constantly questioning her position here. I do know that she's very, very good at her job. I know that she really knows how to handle crisis with the seven and how to, you know, she's like Olivia Pope and, like, she's like, but a much more in the dirtier gutter part of the Olivia Pope version of that – but, she's a fixer. During the season, when she feels unappreciated, she starts questioning why she's even there and why she shows up every day and why she's suffering through all of this trauma. I also know that I think that if she were to leave, she knows deep down that she would die very quickly (laughs). There is a high pressure situation where she has to stay and she has to do her job.

Homelander makes his team do some wild tasks as an act of dominance — the tables have finally turned and now you can make Homelander grovel do any type of task you want. What are you making him do?

Claudia Doumit: I would love to see his powers be taken away and see him just live as a normal person. I feel like that would be such torture for him to just live as a normal human being and not feel superior to anyone.

Eric Kripke: That’s another great question, Ty. He would be my private jet if I could make him do anything.

Chace Crawford: I'm gonna make him go get me McDonald's because he can fly straight there and it would be a poop burger.

With Vic the Veep and Starlight both under immense pressure as their power seems to be at stake, how will their individual struggles and strategies to maintain influence impact the political and social dynamics within the storyline of the upcoming season?

Erin Moriarty: I mean, mine impacts everything that my character has to do with because I'm just, like, just having a breakdown, essentially, which, fair enough, I think we've seen what she's endured thus far, and it's like, okay, if she had lasted one more season without succumbing to some of the trauma that she's been through, we would risk grounding her in her own humanity. At a certain point, you're gonna have to hit rock bottom and experience that bottom. I'm glad we did it, because if we hadn't a certain point, I would leave the show feeling like we hadn't conveyed what we intended to, which is, like, shit's messy. It’s not about necessarily making mistakes. It's about how you metabolize those mistakes as lessons that determine who you are.

Doumit: I think Newman facilitates a lot of outcomes for the end of the season, and that are horrific, like, where we end up with the presidency and with Homelander and Sage and all of that stuff. I just think roughly, like, the decisions that she makes throughout this season, heavily, like, the alliances or, like, the people that she associates with and the situations that she gets herself deeper and deeper into kind of facilitate the momentum and the movement for where we end at the end of the season. This world that we've been thrust into., so not cool Newman.

The Deep is starting to get deep with Sister Sage, but it seems the thing he was doing to Cassandra last season with Ambrosius is repeating here with Sister Sage. If this was a love competition and you had one final rose in your hand, is The Deep giving it to Sister Sage or Ambrosius and why?

Crawford: Ambrosius gets the rose because that’s what makes him the happiest. He needs to just relax, go back in the ocean, take Ambrosius and, you know, live out his life. That's where he's supposed to be. But also, The Deep as a host on The Bachelor would be good (laughs).

If you had to make one of the characters the president and vice president of the United States, who would you choose?

Moriarty: I'd make Huey president and Kimiko the vice president. I feel like any character that has, like, good intentions will be really good relative to what's going on.

Crawford: The Deep and Homelander (laughs). The sensible answer would be Huey and Annie.

Doumit: I think Starlight would be good as president.

Given The Boys'critical acclaim, winning both the Critics Choice Super Awards and Primetime Creative Arts Emmy, what does this recognition signify about the evolving appreciation and acceptance of satirical content in mainstream media, and how might it influence future productions within the genre?

Kripke: Wow, good question. Look, it feels good to be recognized. I mean, I've been working in genre television for a very long time now, like 20 years, and I'm not used to getting any sort of recognition. I'm very comfortable being the nerd in the back of the class so the fact that people seem to be responding to it is just awesome. I'm grateful. I think certain shows have been trailblazers like Game of Thrones and Lost. I think streaming has really helped show audiences that there's a level to which what was in the past kind of like B-movie stuff or, you know, that there's a level to which it can aspire. Everyone working in that world has known it all along. This type of genre material, to me, is the most interesting because you can reflect the world back at the audience in a way that you could never get away with in a straightforward drama. You could always say more subversive things going back to Rod Sterling and The Twilight Zone. I'm just glad that people are starting to notice.

Karen, 'The Female' has transformed significantly throughout the series, facing immense challenges and evolving in profound ways. With the upcoming season introducing a new enemy, how will this uniquely challenge her both personally and within the team dynamics? Can you share any insights into how her past experiences will influence her strategies and relationships moving forward?

Karen Fukuhara: That's such a deep question. You know, I think over the seasons, Kimiko has had a glow up, and then she is being forced to glow down because of this frenemy from her past. This new character comes into play. I would like to think there are two characters that come into season four that kind of shake things up. Our beloved friend Elliot Knight – he comes in and stomps all over what Kimiko has created. There's a lot of things that she has to face that she's, frankly, not ready for, and she's not ready to come to terms with either of those.

How will the potential shifting team dynamics this season affect the relationships and power balance within The Seven, and what impact will this shakeup have on the overall storyline and character development?

Starr: Nice way to end it, Ty. You know, a lot of season four, the whole of season four is about legacy for Homelander, and that directly relates to the new casting choices in The Seven. That’s a very self-serving move on my part to get those people in there, especially Sister Sage, because we made a deal. I also enjoyed watching The Deep trying to find his place yet again.

Crawford: I gotta watch it, but I did love the finale when I did, like, the kind of the, you know, the alliance between him and Noir, the new Black Noir, you know, they're kind of obviously taking it up a notch, and they're almost henchmen of sorts by that time. It will be interesting to see what the writers come up with next, you know, next season. I don't really have anything I specifically want, but he's always going to want to ride Homelanders' coattails.

This season of The Boysaddresses numerous issues and controversial opinions, particularly during a pep rally with Homelander and The Seven. This scene is reminiscent of today's political climate and serves as a potential foreshadowing of current societal dynamics. How will this season parallel today's politics, raise questions, and, in a sense, hold a mirror up to society?

Kripke: I mean, you hit the nail on the head. I think that's what the show does well, is it holds a mirror up at what we're doing .I think the thing I wanted to explore and point out is it's very troubling how we're, like, splitting into these two different camps and we're demonizing the other side and we're not listening anymore. It becomes us versus them and it's becoming a zero sum game versus an exchange of ideas. Most of all, we're being manipulated into doing it by billionaires and algorithms and politicians because it's profitable for them and because people instinctively do not hate at that level. They don't hate their neighbors, and they're being manipulated and driven into doing it. I want people to just have a more critical eye about why this is happening instead of sort of blindly following these leaders who are doing this. The more we fight with each other, the less we turn a critical eye towards them.

The Boys is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.