Spoilers ahead for the first three episodes of The Boys Season 2 on Amazon.
The Boys has made its long-awaited return to the small screen with new episodes, and Homelander didn't get any softer or cuddlier ahead of Season 2. The psychotic Supe spent a lot of the first three episodes away from The Seven (and its newest member), however, as he got to know his son despite Becca Butcher's wishes. Homelander pushed boundaries with Ryan and Becca, and Becca had no choice but to let it happen as he tried to force his son to show off some superpowers. The result was a brutal scene that would have been horrifying rather than hilarious on any other show, and actor Antony Starr shared his reaction.
The scene happened at Becca and Ryan's suburban home. Or, more specifically, on top of Becca and Ryan's home, as Homelander took his son to the roof to try and get him to fly. Ryan wasn't showing any super abilities at this point, but Homelander was bound and determined that his son must have inherited his superpowers. The good news for Homelander is that with a little push, Ryan did prove that he has his dad's strength and eyes. The bad news is that little push happened to be pushing Ryan off the roof. Speaking with CinemaBlend's Nick Venable, Antony Starr shared how that particular scene played out to him:
I get very subjective about these things, because I’m looking at it from the character’s point of view. All I can say is this, my friend: when I saw that, and that little high-pitched scream came out of that child, I was on the ground crying with laughter. I think it is so funny. I just love what the guys in did in post with the visual effects. We’re so lucky we got [VFX supervisor] Stephan Fleet and his team in The Boys. They do such a great job and [it’s great] when you see it all put together. Like, obviously we didn’t push the kid off the roof. That would have been way too time consuming. But, um, that was a joke. But, you know – [Laughs] – we’d have to reset the plaster every take. No, no. But it’s great.
If you're somebody who watched Season 1 of The Boys and loved it enough to come back for Season 2, then your reaction to poor little Ryan shrieking after his Supe dad pushed him off the roof may well have been the same as Antony Starr's! The New Zealand actor certainly made a good point that it would be too time consuming to really push a kid off a roof. Resetting the plaster -- or cast, for those of us who have broken bones on the American side of the pond -- just wouldn't be practical after every take!
In all seriousness, The Boys pulled off the effects to really give the impression that a kid was indeed pushed off a roof, only to land hard 20 feet below, definitely without taking flight. The scene established Homelander's parenting tactics as downright brutal, rather than just overbearing and uncomfortable as he overstepped his bounds in Becca's house. The fall was minor when compared to the battles that The Seven regularly fight, but I'm guessing this will stand as one of the most memorable scenes of Season 2.
Antony Starr shared how The Boys actually filmed the scene, saying:
Well, I gotta be honest, [when] we shot that, we did go up on the roof, but we never went anywhere near the edge, and most of it was actually shot on some boxes about two feet off the ground. The camera was down low, looking up, and then there was a wide shot of the external when we’re up on the roof, but basically it was all shot very close to the ground. So it never really... Like, I knew what was going on, but you’re sort of doing these things, and there’s a crew around and all that and you know, 'Ah, you call me Dad. [Splat noise.]' So, you know, I thought it was pretty funny.
The scene in question takes place in the third episode, when Homelander was already in a mood due to what was happening in The Seven with Stormfront and at Vought with Stan Edgar, who frustrated Homelander by simply not being afraid of him. There was no real-life danger for the actors, but Ryan was in very real danger from Homelander, whose joy at being called "Dad" was short-lived, as Ryan used his newfound powers to yell at Homelander to leave him and his mom alone.
It's not clear just yet whether that was the first and last time we'll see Homelander getting violent to try and parent his kid, but The Boys still has five episodes left in Season 2, and Season 3 is already on the way to deliver Homelander's predecessor in the Supe business at Vought. Why not more of Ryan as well? Although Antony Starr didn't drop all the details of what to expect in the rest of Season 2 or beyond, he definitely teased what's to come that should be more of what Boys fans love:
I think you see those scenes, it’s like all the scenes that we see. There’s some pretty horrific scenes in Season 2 coming up, as I can attest to, and that’s one of the great things about the show is when you see the violence, when you see these horrible things, there is an element of humor, or something that makes it accessible for the audience, so that it’s not just ‘Ahh, actually, I can’t watch that.’ There’s a definite heightened reality and humor around it.
While The Boys released the full first season all at once in 2019, the show released the first three episodes of Season 2 to start, with one episode per week over the next five weeks. Binge-watching won't be an option the same way it was the first time around, but at least this means the Boys action will last longer! That could be a very good thing, especially since there is no saying when Season 3 with Supernatural's Jensen Ackles will debut.
Check out Amazon Prime on Fridays this fall for new episodes of The Boys Season 2. The action is only beginning, and there are more questions than answers when it comes to the Church of the Collective, Stormfront's motivations, and the plots still dangling from the end of Season 1. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more coverage of The Boys throughout Season 2, and be sure to check out our 2020 fall TV premiere schedule for some additional viewing options.
