Erin Moriarty, who plays superhero Annie January/Starlight on the superhero satire/dramaThe Boys, revealed that the show’s upcoming fourth season humanizes some of the characters previously portrayed as antagonists.
Moriarty said that, much like the previous seasons,The Boyswill delve deeper into some of its characters. However,The Boysseason 4 will delve into characterspreviously seen as villains and give them a more human portrayal. Still, Moriarty would not get into any specifics regarding which characters will receive this treatment.
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Moriarty gave some new details onThe Boysseason 4 while talking withCollider. “Every season, we go a little bit deeper with each character,” Moriarty said. “The characters… that you thought would be villains. You start to learn a little bit more about them that perhaps makes you feel, not that they’re good guys, but that there are always gonna be details that you’re able to never anticipate, that prevent you from putting that character in a box.” ThoughThe Boyshas established antagonists, they have humanizedtheir baddies like Homelanderwhile adding that their protagonists, like Billy Butcher, aren’t exactly good at heart.
Giancarlo Esposito’s Stan Edgar- fired by Vought following the cover-up scandal - is one of the characters who have not been humanized. So is Victoria Neuman, an undercover supe who has been blowing up people’s heads. In Edgar’s case,The Boyshas portrayed him as a completely infallible businessman to Homelander’s threats. They haven’t shown much of a human side, but that could change now that he’s out of the picture. For Neuman, the show has delved into her life as a mother, but they haven’t dove into her reasoning for killing people to help her career politically.
Or perhaps they will further humanize those among the most ruthless characters in the showbesides Homelander or Billy Butcher, like Soldier Boy.The Boysseason 3 did a terrific job revealing bit by bit why his original team, Payback, hated his guts. Yet, by the third season’s finale, they gave him a more compelling backstory when he revealed that his problems are because of his daddy issues growing up. Because his dad never gave Soldier Boy the appeasement he craved, he took out his rage toward his father on his fellow supes, which extended so far that he projected them at Homelander even after realizing that Homelander was his biological son.
Even though they’ve humanized some of their characters, they also made it clear that despite their sympathetic backstory, they need to be stopped without question, like Homelander. Viewers are supposed to feel sorry that Vought’s primary supe had such a brutal upbringing by having no parents or nurture growing up. Yet, they realize how truly vile he is because he’s made so many people suffer because of his sociopathy. A humanized villain is compelling, but they are still a villain nonetheless.
