[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Episode 6 of Season 4 of The Boys.]
In episode six of Season 4 of the Prime Video seriesThe Boys, Homelander (Antony Starr), Sage (Susan Heyward) and Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) attend a party at Tek Knight’s expansive manor to further their plan to help Neuman become President. At the same time, Hughie (Jack Quaid) disguises himself as Webweaver and unexpectedly finds himself in the secret underground Tek Cave without the proper safe word. Elsewhere, Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) continues to push Butcher (Karl Urban) to do whatever he can to get more of the virus needed to kill Homelander, but Homelander is back at Vought getting to know Firecracker (Valorie Curry) in a whole new way.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, showrunnerEric Kripkebroke down all the blood, latex and breast milk of episode six, entitled “Dirty Business.” He talked about how Hughie came to put on the Webweaver suit, whether Quaid was actually the one in the costume the entire time, ensuring their latex-wearing character took the proper breaks to let his skin breathe, how the chosen safe word came about, the evolution of the Homelander and Firecracker relationship, the scene he felt was the craziest they’ve done, and how that Kessler reveal came about.
The Boys is a drama series that explores the darker aspects of superhero culture, portraying a world where superheroes abuse their powers rather than use them for good. Centered around a vigilante group aiming to control these corrupt heroes, the series delves into themes of power, corruption, and accountability. The show features a complex narrative with multifaceted characters, offering an unfiltered look at the consequences of unchecked power.
Collider: After everything that he went through with his father, what was the thought process that went into making Jack Quaid follow that up with dressing up as Webweaver and having to sit his naked ass on a cake?
ERIC KRIPKE: You say that like it’s a bad thing. The emotional arc for Hughie, in this particular episode, is like so many people after the death of a loved one. They tend to compartmentalize and throw themselves into work and say everything’s fine, but it’s not fine. He needs to give himself time and space. A lot of people tend to throw themselves a little in over their heads with work that they’re not prepared to handle, so there really was talk of a real emotional underpinning to what he was going through.There was always a story from the comics of Hughie going undercover as a superhero to infiltrate, and Jack always asked me to do that story, but you wanna be very, very careful of what you ask the writers for. It all just came together. We basically had Wayne manor, and we were able to bring Spider-Man into Batman’s mansion and take him down into the bat cave that was really a sex dungeon. I just don’t know how you pass that up.
Jack Quaid’s Revealing Turn As Webweaver Was All Him Under the Mask
Did you actually fully torture him and make him do all of that, or was he able to have someone else under the mask?
KRIPKE: That is all credit to Jack and his dedication.That is Jack in that suit, the whole fucking time. At no point, did it even occur to Jack to say, “You know, none of this has to be me. I could just voice it later." Jack wanted it to be his real reaction, so that is Jack under the mask, literally the entire time.
How did he feel about having to wear the device in his mouth?
KRIPKE: You’d have to ask him. I don’t know. I do know that with the Laddio character, because he’s almost entirely covered in latex, I learned that you do actually have to take breaks to let his skin breathe, because it’s actually dangerous to keep all parts of your skin covered. Your skin actually needs to breathe, also. So, I learned a little about latex play. I’d think that the suit would be really claustrophobic and wearing a mask for so long would be hard, and I remember hearing that that wasn’t easy for him, but you’d have to ask him. I wasn’t there. Maybe he was just happy that he could breathe through his nose with the mask off.
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You are cordially invited to the Tek Cave.
Who picked “Zendaya” as the safe word?
KRIPKE: That was Slem (Anslem Richardson), the episode’s brilliant writer. I think he just threw it into the first draft, and I just started laughing my ass off. And then, we kept it. I kept waiting for Sony to say, “No fucking way,” but they never did.
Homelander and Firecracker Have Taken Their Relationship to a Very Different Level
Were there a lot of conversations about how to best have the whole breast milk situation with Homelander and Firecracker to play out? When I spoke to Antony Starr about that, he told me that was the weirdest thing he’s ever done on this show, even with all the other weird things. How did all of that evolve, from getting squirted in the face to laying on the couch?
KRIPKE: It was totally insane. We were talking about how, at this point in the story, Firecracker really wants to jockey past Sage into Homelander’s good graces and take first position. And she’s really, really good at reading people’s emotional needs. And so, when you’re in the writers’ room and you start thinking, “What is it that Homelander wants most in the world, but is afraid to ask or can’t get?," it doesn’t take that much conversation before you get to,“He’s just dying for someone to let him breastfeed.”We were like, “That’s absolutely insane, and we definitely have to do that.” Ant and Val [Curry] were totally game. They really got it. They understood.
As you always do when there’s simulated nudity, we always get very, very specific about what our shots are, and both actors sign off on every shot and every angle, to ensure that it’s something that they’re comfortable with. We rehearse it. Running a safe space is first and foremost, so we really very carefully laid out what it was going to be. For me, even though it’s not our biggest moment, I agree with Ant.The moment of him breastfeeding on the couch could be my award for the moment in Season 4 that I think is the craziestand that makes me cover my mouth every time and say, “Oh, my God, I cannot believe we’re doing this.” Though there are bigger things, it’s a wild thing to ask two actors to get in that position and ask him to simulate suckling her breast and his baby-like ecstasy at it. I get why that would be weird for an actor.
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Was that reveal moment with Kessler the way you always wanted to reveal that, between Kessler and Becca, as Butcher has that realization?
KRIPKE: I seem to remember, in an early version in the writers’ room, we were gonna reveal it the way all of these movies reveal it, which is a character walks in the room and says, “Who are you talking to?” I was like, “Well, let’s not do that. Everyone’s done that. Let’s have the two imaginary characters in the room start yelling at each other. And then, that will be the reveal that they’re both imaginary.” It was just looking for a new angle on how to do one of those reveals.
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Supes gone wild!
The Boysis available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the Season 4 trailer:
