The Boys has seen a ratings increase in Season 4, and there are a few key factors to consider: Karl Urban and Antony Starr’s performances as Butcher and Homelander are 90% responsible for this.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Kessler steals the show in The Boys season 4 | Amazon MGM Studios
From wanting to kill Superman to plotting genocide, season 4 of The Boys has been wild to say the least. Karl Urban gave such an iconic and brilliant performance as the sickly William Butcher that the script had to be changed significantly.
It wasn’t just about Karl Urban’s William Butcher.
Spoiler alert!!!
Hey! Mild spoilers ahead for The Boys season 4, ok?
One look at the smirking face of Billy Butcher tells us he’s a broken man surviving only on his desire for revenge. After taking Temp V during the events of Season 3, Butcher became ill, and the show makes no secret of that.
Still from Butcher and the Boys | Amazon MGM Studios
The Boys’ fourth season finale shows Butcher dying in a hospital after collapsing at a bar the night before. As he lies on a gurney, Butcher offers a heartfelt apology over the phone as Jack Quaid’s Hughie watches the election on TV.
This moving scene is everything Butcher didn’t tolerate, and watching William Butcher apologize is like watching Homelander save people. Well, the scene with Butcher and Hughie on the phone wasn’t originally planned to be shot like this.
In a post on TMZ’s social media accounts, creator Eric Kripke revealed that Butcher and Hughie were always meant to co-star on screen, but Karl Urban’s performance was so outstanding that he was forced to shift the focus entirely to Urban.
So this Butcher scene killed me. Originally, we were going to alternate between him and Hughie, but we kept him because @KarlUrban is heartbreakingly amazing. He consistently gives top-notch, Emmy-winning performances here.
But Karl Urban isn’t the only one to deliver a great performance as William Butcher in The Boys: Antony Starr, who plays Homelander, has also been at the center of fame.
Here’s the thing: Antony Starr’s Homelander wants more than fame. He craves the world, his people, and his son’s love. This deeper understanding of the character led Antony Starr to change one scene in The Boys Season 4.
Anthony Starr asked Eric Kripke to change a scene in ‘The Boys’
In the season finale, Antony Starr’s Homelander gives his iconic speech about America, Newman dies, the new president sides with Homelander, and superheroes spin out of control.
Antony Starr in a still from The Boys | Amazon MGM Studios
Eric Kripke’s original idea was for someone to give a speech and Homelander to just stand menacingly in the background, but Antony Starr knows Homelander so well that he realized Homelander didn’t just stand there in silence.
In an interview with Vulture, Starr revealed that he spoke with Kripke about the scene and that it was his idea to take center stage.
Initially, I would have just stood in the background and said nothing, with the camera panning past Calhoun to me smiling with satisfaction, but my instincts told me Calhoun was a bought-off puppet and Homelander’s ego would push him forward.
He continued:
I said to Eric, “Hey, it’s a very homie thing for a homie to move that guy out of the way and say, ‘Here’s what’s really going to happen.'”
Indeed, the scene was enough to show a world in which Homelander is completely in control. The season finale of The Boys was met with largely positive reviews from fans and critics alike.
After four seasons, The Boys currently holds an 8.7/10 rating on IMDB and an impressive 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. The iconic series is available to stream on Prime Video in the US.
