Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ Casts Banshee’s Antony Starr, Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford
Amazon has announced the first few bits of casting in their upcoming superhero drama ‘The Boys‘, and there are some familiar faces, including ‘Banshee’ actor Antony Starr, ‘Gossip Girl’s’ Chace Crawford, Dominique McElligott (‘House Of Cards’, ‘The Last Tycoon’), Nathan Mitchell (‘iZombie’, ‘Supernatural’) and Jessie T. Usher (‘Survivor’s Remorse’).
Based on the comic book by Garth Ennis (‘Preacher’) and adapted by the brilliant Eric Kripke (‘Supernatural’, ‘Timeless’), the show is set in a world where costumed heroes soar through the sky and masked vigilantes prowl the night. But sometimes you need people to keep the superheroes in check when their egos get too big, and they become reckless… That’s where ‘The Boys’ come in.
Billy Butcher, The Frenchman, Mother’s Milk, The Female and new recruit Wee Hughie, whose girlfriend was “collateral damage” in a superhero brawl, are not a fan of the ‘capes’. Backed by the CIA, they form a team designed to control and, if necessary, take out those superpowered beings who overstep the mark.
The casting announcement covers members of the main “superhero” team, The Seven, which is a kind of parody of the Justice League… Although in this case, they are definitely super, but not really heroes…
Antony Starr is set to play Homelander, leader of The Seven. He’s basically their Superman… except rather than being the wholesome farm boy, he’s a massive amoral jerk and sexual predator. Rather than “great power” coming with “great responsibility”, for him “great power” means he thinks he can do whatever he likes.
Nathan Mitchell plays Black Noir – basically their stand-in for Batman… except he makes Batman look positively cuddly by comparison. In the comic book version, he barely speaks, is extremely brutal, and a mysterious, but deeply unpleasant character.
Dominique McElligott plays Queen Maeve, who is their take on Wonder Woman. Unlike the other members of the team, her story seems rather more tragic than evil. After The Seven botched a job trying to save people on 9/11, she became a raging alcoholic… which is not a good thing at the best of times, but rather worse when you have some of the most potent powers on the team.
Jessie T. Usher plays A-Train, the team’s speedster. He’s a young, cocky jerk, who was responsible for the death of Wee Hughie’s girlfriend.
Chace Crawford will play The Deep, who is their version of Aquaman and is seen as a lesser member of the team. He can fly, has superhuman strength and durability. Although his costume does have an aquatic theme, it’s not really clear if he does have any nautical-based powers. He doesn’t appear to be as much of a murderous jerk as his colleagues, however, he also seems more interested in money than helping people.
I should point out, the character descriptions here are based on the versions in the comic books, so its possible things may change a little for the tv show. Although, this is going to be directed by ‘Preacher‘s’ Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, so don’t expect any fluffy CW type superhero stuff. I suspect this is going to be darkly comic and extremely graphic!
No news on an air date for ‘The Boys‘ yet, but we’ll keep you posted!
