Queen Maeve and Starlight won't be friends in The Boys season 3. The second season of the Amazon Prime hit show ended with Maeve and Starlight united against their mutual enemy: Homelander. However, a shared hatred doesn't necessarily sow the seeds for a fortuitous friendship.
Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) was the only female supe in the Seven until Starlight (Erin Moriarty) joined the team in The Boys season 1. The contrast between the two women was evident from the start. Starlight began the series as a naive, easily manipulated, and idealistic woman, still fervently believing that the supes were actually meant to help people. Ironically Starlight became something of a conscience for the more cynical and hardened Maeve. The more experienced Maeve protected Starlight from Homelander's wrath in season 1. Maeve also saved Starlight in season 2 from an attack from Black Noir by exploiting Black Noir's food allergy weakness. The Boys season 2 ended with Maeve blackmailing Homelander with footage from the plane crash, which resulted in Starlight being welcomed back into the Seven.
Dominique McElligott told The Wrap that she doesn't believe that Maeve's actions will lead to her character cultivating a genuine friendship with Starlight in season 3. "When she sees Starlight, in Season 1 especially, Starlight was a little like a damsel in distress and Maeve was there saying, ‘Come on, pull yourself together.’" McElligott elaborated on why she thinks the relationship between the two is "one-sided."
"I mean, I don’t even remember Starlight saying thank you...It doesn’t seem to be in her vocabulary. Going forward, I think that Maeve is essentially a really decent person. She’s always going to turn up when she’s needed. She’s not going to let somebody die on her watch if she can help it. And she’s always going to be there, but the superficial niceties that probably Starlight is expecting from her will never probably be a part of the equation for them. So I don’t see a friendship, because I don’t think it’s two-sided.”
Maeve is certainly one of the most interesting and conflicted characters in The Boys. She had been dealing with the guilt from the horrible plane crash during season 1 largely on her own (until her ex-girlfriend Elena found out.) McElligott is definitely correct in saying that Maeve has done far more for Starlight overall. However, in a way, Maeve is definitely using Starlight as a means to soothe her tortured conscience. Maeve couldn't save the plane crash victims, or Elena, but she was able to save Starlight more than once.
At the end of the day, the person Maeve truly needs to save is herself before she can really work on enjoying genuine friendships or relationships with anybody else. Queen Maeve has demonstrated time and time again that girls do get it done. Are she and Starlight headed down the road of friendship in The Boys season 3? That possibility is highly unlikely, but perhaps Starlight can finally return the favor and save the strongest woman on the Seven for once. Anything goes on The Boys.
Source: The Wrap