‘The Boys’ returns Jensen Ackles for Season 5, announces new spinoff

SAN DIEGO – Antony Starr was about to speak during a Comic-Con presentation for Amazon’s very adult satirical superhero show “The Boys” when he heard a baby in the crowd.
“Is this the right panel for a child?” quipped Starr, who plays the psychotic superman Homelander on the series.
“The Boys” recently finished its fourth season. And while writers are working on the fifth and final season, the show had big announcements: Jensen Ackles will return as Soldier Boy (who was last seen in the last scene of Season 4) as a series regular, and the former “Supernatural” star will also headline a 1950s-set pulp spinoff, “Vought Rising,” alongside Aya Cash, reprising her “Boys” character Stormfront.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Ackles joked. “I’m like an itch that just won’t go away, aren’t I? It’s good to be back.”
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Much of the presentation featured “Boys” cast members reminiscing about the most shocking scenes of Season 4. Starr and co-star Valorie Curry, who plays right-wing antagonist Firecracker, broke down a memorable scene in which Firecracker breast-feeds the constantly stressed-out and homicidal Homelander.
“I have a memory of you taking almond milk straight to the eye in one shot,” Curry recalled.
“Thank God it was almonds,” Starr countered.
The scene involved Homelander sitting on Firecracker’s lap, and Curry remembers the metal eagles on Starr’s superhero costume leaving an indentation on her thigh.
“I love playing a villain, and she is the absolute worst in every conceivable way and so incredibly loud with how awful she is,” Curry said. “She’s a clown in a way I’ve ever had the opportunity to play.” She should be afraid of Homelander, “but her devotion runs so deep. She will walk in the lion’s den and just cuddle the lion. But that’s the dynamic in that scene. It’s disarming for someone to not be afraid. It’s genuinely disturbing love.”
Adds Starr: “That’s why it’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever done.”