Warning: This article contains spoilers from The Boys season 3!
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke explains why Seth Rogen popped in for a cameo in a hilariously unsexy Crimson Countess scene. The Boys season 3 has continued the show's habit of getting some notable cameos in fun roles, including Charlize Theron appearing as Stormfront in the Vought Cinematic Universe's Dawn of the Seven trailer. The latest cameo appearance comes at the tail end of season 3, episode 5, "The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies," which finds Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy tracking down his old Payback teammates after being freed from cryo-freeze in Russia. He first finds his old flame, Crimson Countess (Laurie Holden), who he quickly snuffs out for handing him over to the Russians to be tortured and experimented on for decades.
Before Crimson Countess dies, the audience gets a peek at how the washed-up Supe makes some extra income. Producer Seth Rogen appears in the scene as a client named @Sir-Cums-A-Lot-779, who Crimson Countess is performing a private webcam show for on SupePorn.com, (a site that Amazon has now actually made). She's about to introduce sex toys into her play as Rogen's client pleasures himself, just when Butcher prematurely interrupts the situation. The cameo marks the third time Rogen has appeared on The Boys, once each season, with him playing a version of himself in previous appearances.
Kripke explains the cameo in a brief interview with EW. According to him, the showrunners had a long list of people they wanted for the cameo, but every one of them turned it down. Rogen himself was initially hesitant, not because of the content, but because he had recently been seen similarly pleasuring himself in Hulu's Pam & Tommy. But once Kripke explained that they had run out of options, Rogen stepped in. Kripke had a good sense of humor about the situation saying this:
"We had a long list of name cameos that we wanted to go after to put in that scene, and for some reason they all passed. I have no idea why they wouldn't want to jerk off to Crimson Countess aggressively on camera and then orgasm too early. I just can't imagine why an actor wouldn't want to do that dream role."
The fifth episode of the season was notably a little less gratuitous and had fewer bonkers set pieces than previous episodes, except for a notable Kimiko song and dance sequence. The brief scene between Crimson Countess and @Sir-Cums-A-Lot-779 was the edgiest the episode seemed to get, but even then it was tamer than the sex toy fight in episode 4. Kripke commends Rogen for not only taking the role, but also making it sex-positive while still finding the humor in it. Rather than going for cheap laughs and playing the client as gross or overly lascivious, he comes across more as a kink-friendly guy who's just really excited to be doing what he's doing.
Kripke has previously stated that his headcanon for Rogen's appearances in the show is that he's playing 'Seth Rogen,' an actor who is the VCU's version of Nick Fury. The actor is the one bridge that ties all Vought-produced superhero films together, including Black Noir: Insurrection and The Deep: Rising Tide. What's great about the cameo is that it doesn't break the show's logic by having Rogen play a second character - his sex cam client could very easily still be 'Seth Rogen,' going incognito to indulge his desires. In a fun meta-twist, episode 5 also introduces The Boys' take on Stan Lee, played by Paul Reiser. Lee served as a producer and appeared in almost every Marvel film before his passing, much like Rogen has appeared in every season of the show. If the trend continues, it will be fun seeing where Rogen makes his cameo every season as The Boys moves forward.
Source: EW