The Boys are back in town, which means more drama and violence. Returning on June 3 for its third season, the successful superhero satire takes place in a world where Vought International has created superpowered individuals, or "supes," using a serum called Compound V. Their current team, the Seven, consists of deranged and damaged heroes more concerned with glory, fame, and Twitter followers than doing the right thing. Homelander (Antony Starr), a Superman-type psychopath, is the worst of the bunch, but it's their Aquaman-inspired member, the Deep (Chace Crawford), who provides the series' most WTF moments involving his sea creature friends' macabre deaths.
Despite all the previous wild exploits, Season 3 tops them all. It introduces Vought's initial World War II superhero team, Payback, led by Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). A toxic Captain America-esque character, Soldier Boy wakes up in the modern day and is not too pleased with the state of the world or Homelander's existence. Also pouring fuel on the fire this season is Congressman Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), an anti-supes activist and founding director of the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs. A powerful supe herself, Victoria's agenda remains unknown. Ahead of this new season, Ackles, Crawford, and Doumit recently spoke with CBR about the Deep's trippy Herogasm experience, Soldier Boy's hatred of Homelander, and Victoria's true colors.
CBR: Chace, the sex orgy in Herogasm... Without giving away spoilers, what was your reaction to that script and the special prop you required?
Chace Crawford: Oh god, the special prop I would get. I didn't know what kind of special prop it was going to be. That's what happened when I read the script. "How are we going to do this? What is the logistics of doing this?" I haven't even seen it yet. It's going to be interesting. The prop weighed a lot more than it looked like it was going to weigh. It was like a necklace, basically, but it was a lot. I basically thought the scene from Episode 3 was it. I was like, "Oh, they can't go further than this." Then it goes further than that.
The Deep has a book out. He has a beautiful wife and is now back with the Seven. What is his mind space that led him to that place in Herogasm?
Crawford: If we are talking real character stuff, that is the funny part about it. He is obviously bringing everything from a very real place. His wife, Cassandra, is pulling the strings. She's puppeteering the whole thing in their relationship. I think he feels trapped. He feels like he needs a bit of a release, and he finds a real connection. One thing leads to another. Infidelity in a marriage, no one really knows... He was having some trouble.
Claudia Doumit: It's the next book.
Crawford: Deep in Deeper. He's a marriage counselor. He comes out of it stronger.
Jensen, Soldier Boy is the original Homelander. What does he make of this modern-day version?
Jensen Ackles: He is not impressed. He's looking at not just Homelander but the whole Vought and superhero world as something he doesn't recognize. In fact, the first word out of Soldier Boy's mouth when he arrives on scene, as he sees a big, huge poster of Homelander, is, "What the fuck?" It's largely him trying to navigate this new world, where he is certainly outdated. He's an analogue superhero in a digital world. He is unimpressed, but he has a job to do, and that's to get revenge on his team that let him down and got him captured.
What can you tease about the first run-in between Soldier Boy and Homelander?
Ackles: Obviously, you have the lion, the alpha, in Homelander. Then, you have another one show up on the scene. It's definitely a squared-off kind of situation. Homelander has all of his shortcomings, but Soldier Boy is also dealing with PTSD from being tortured by the Russians and smoking copious amounts of weed to deal with that.
Claudia, it's too early to tell whether Victoria is one of the good guys or one of the bad ones. What kind of moral line is she walking?
Doumit: It's like a tightrope. I feel like she has to make some pretty big sacrifices this season that she does not want to have to make. She's coming into some harsh truths and realities. She has to reassess her allegiances. She's kind of on her own, we eventually find. She makes some decisions that benefit her in the moment, but they are definitely going to have some dire consequences, in true Boys fashion. It's going to be fun.
The first three episodes of The Boys Season 3 are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. New episodes will premiere every Friday.