Anthony Starr, who plays evil superhero Homelander on The Boys, compares his character to one of Game of Thrones' most notorious villains. Starr plays the leader of The Seven, the Amazon Prime show's twisted and corrupt answer to The Avengers, to significant effect. His performance is so strong and nuanced that many people like the character, despite his propensity for sexual abuse, murder, and general fascism. Starr recently reacted to Donald Trump supporters dressing up as the character calling those who do so "ignorant," an apt comment considering he is portrayed as pure evil in The Boys.
Homelander is the latest in a long line of very hissable TV villains and has been compared to Game of Thrones' Joffery Baratheon (Jack Gleeson), a malignant force across the first four seasons of the show. Both characters are raised to believe they are unique and can get away with anything, and made for incredibly compelling villain figures at the center of their respective shows. But where Homelander has been shown to have some redeemable features, attempting to raise his son, if even in a twisted way, Joffrey had no redeemable qualities, and his on-screen death by poisoning was one of Game of Thrones' highlights.
Speaking with Comicbook.com, Starr agrees with the comparison between the characters, though he adds that Homelander is more likable, calling him a character with "a little bit more going on." He adds that Homelander is given layers thanks to smart writing and his broader storyline in The Boys season 2, which adds the complication of his son and his relationship with former Nazi superhero Stormfront. He says those moments allow audiences to empathize with the character, despite his murderous tendencies. You can read Starr's full comments below:
Because we've been locked up so long in L.A. and things just keep going from bad to worse here with COVID-wise, I rewatched all of Game of Thrones. I had forgotten, I didn't notice maybe, how good that kid is. How good Joffrey['s actor] actually is. The one thing that I would say about the big difference, though, is that you're trying to redeem Homelander, but there's really, with Joffrey, nothing to like. There's such an absence of any humanity, there's no reason why or anything of that. You never empathize with him, whereas I think just by comparison, I think that Homelander is evil and despicable, but I think because of the smart writing in season one and some fun choices that we cooked up in season two. There are moments when you see a little bit more going on than just the psychopath, you know? It does make him the guy that you love to hate, but then every now and then there's these moments...there's moments when you kind of empathize with him and you realize, "Oh, he's trying to help his son," and things like that.
Of course, it doesn't take much to make a character more likable than Joffrey Baratheon, who was pretty much evil incarnate, attempting to have his wife-to-be, Sansa, murdered and killing off half of her family. But Starr makes a good point. Despite being performed by a wonderful actor, who gave the character depth, Joffrey was something of a two-dimensional character compared to Homelander, who is written to give audiences a glimpse of the man behind the monster.
The finale of season 2 left Homelander in a more evil place, though, with the character seemingly pushed over the edge by the events in that episode. With The Boys season 3 set to include a notorious orgy storyline inspired by the comics, Homelander's sympathetic side will seemingly take a back seat in the coming season.
Source: Comicbook.com