Superhero series The Boys, starring Karl Urban, is an often extremely violent take-down of celebrity culture. But is it a tearjerker drama?
Speaking to TV WEEK, Karl says fans will be surprised by what’s in store in the fifth – and final – season of Prime Video series, The Boys. That includes some shock deaths (in a show where there are, admittedly, many deaths).
“The last few episodes of this show are shocking, they’re explosive,” the 53-year-old New Zealand actor says. “I would have a box of tissues handy because there are some very tragic and heartfelt moments.
“There are some very, very big, popular, loveable characters don’t make it past the seventh episode, let alone the final episode.
“But ultimately, I think that this show has always been about hope and it really, I feel, honours that resounding positivity.”
This season in The Boys, fascistic superhero leader Homelander (Antony Starr) establishes ‘freedom camps’ to imprison who opposes him. Karl’s character, Billy Butcher wants to unleash a virus that wipes out all superheroes.
Butcher, as a result of taking a shot of Compound V, which gave him superpowers, is now dying of cancer.
“Homelander is rounding up humans, non-supes, in camps and he’s limiting freedom of speech and social media and literally is an individual who wouldn’t hesitate to commit mass murder in order to protect a secret,” Karl says.
“Butcher can see that, and he sees it early on. And I think other members of the Boys are starting to see that threat as well.
“The interesting thing is Butcher has turned himself into the very thing that he’s been fighting all along. And the question is, is there still a shred of humanity left for him?”
Throughout the course of the series, Butcher does horrific things, but in a show rife with morally bankrupt characters, does Karl think Butcher is a “good” person?
“There is compassion and empathy there within him, but there’s also a tremendous amount of pain, which has evolved into anger and selfishness and he has these faults and flaws that don’t always mean that he makes the right choice,” Karl says.
“But for me, I always ground the character in a positive ideology and philosophy for why he’s doing what he’s doing, even though sometimes it’s difficult for anybody else to get on board with it.”
With all-powerful superheroes running around acting like they think they’re Gods, it’s not hard to draw parallels with what we see in real-life. Karl says the series shows that if superheroes were real, they would be as “fallible and flawed” as “celebrities, sportspeople or politicians”.
“I think it’s quite an honest look (at) celebrity culture,” he says.
Karl previously starred in The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek franchises and will soon be seen in Mortal Kombat II.
If Karl was injected with Compound V, like the characters in The Boys, what superpower would he want?
“I would love the ability to make an informed choice or a decision,” Karl says. “And in that sort of microsecond that you’re about to do it, that you can see the infinite possibilities of the result of that decision, like some sort of super processed AI. I think that would be a wonderful tool to really kind of help navigate your life.”
The Boys S5 is available now on Prime Video.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
