Last month, we learned that Erin Moriarty (‘Jessica Jones’) was the first actor cast in the Amazon adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s violent satirical comic book ‘The Boys’. Moriarty will portray Starlight/Annie January, a naive young hero who is recruited to The Seven, the Justice League-like gang of hedonists who masquerade as the world’s saviors while indulging in rampant sex and drug abuse.
Now Moriarty won’t be alone, as the series has filled out the roster of The Seven with Antony Starr, Dominique McElligott, Chace Crawford, Jessie T. Usher and Nathan Mitchell.
Antony Starr will portray Homelander, leader of The Seven and the most powerful superhero in this world. On the surface, he is basically an amalgam of Captain America and Superman, but underneath, he’s an entitled megalomaniac, who secretly commits atrocities just because he can.
Ironically, though his character is a symbol of American patriotism, Starr is a New Zealander. He has an extensive TV resumé, having recently starred on ‘American Gothic’ and ‘Banshee’. His past credits include ‘Outrageous Fortune’, ‘Rush’, ‘Tricky Business’ and ‘Lowdown’.
Chace Crawford is probably the best known of the actors on this list, having starred as Nate Archibald on six seasons of The CW’s hit ‘Gossip Girl’. He also starred on the one-season drama ‘Blood & Oil’. He has since appeared in films like ‘What To Expect When You’re Expecting’, ‘Mountain Men’ and “I Do… Until I Don’t’.
Interestingly, pretty boy Crawford is playing The Deep on ‘The Boys’, a character whose face is almost always covered. (Also, interestingly, in the comics, the character is black.) The Deep is older and more mature than the others and often finds himself the subject of their teasing… much like the character he was based on, Aquaman.
Dominique McElligott has been cast as Queen Maeve, ‘The Boys” Wonder Woman stand-in. Queen Maeve appears to be otherworldly in nature, unlike the rest of The Seven who were genetically gifted with their powers by the sinister Vought-American company. She originally appears to be an actual altruistic hero, who has her spirit crushed by the true natures of her teammates, eventually becoming an alcoholic. She later stands up for Starlight when the men of The Seven attempt to sexually assault her.
McElligott also has a lengthy television resumé, having appeared on ‘Hell On Wheels’, ‘The Astronaut Wives Club’, ‘House of Cards’ and ‘The Last Tycoon’.
Nathan Mitchell has worked extensively in genre television, having appeared on ‘Falling Skies’, ‘The Tomorrow People’, ‘Arrow’, ‘Timeless’, ‘Supernatural’ and ‘iZombie’ as well as ‘Psych: The Movie’ in which he played the awesomely named Black Gentleman Ninja.
Mitchell will portray Black Noir. In the comics, Black Noir is an enigma, who only appears as a featureless silhouette. He demonstrates super strength and Billy Butcher suggests he may be the most powerful and dangerous of all The Seven. Beyond that, he is a man of mystery until the climax of the book series. If you’ve read the comics, it may appear that his story has been changed for the adaptation, but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case.
Finally, the “flashiest” member of The Seven, the super fast A-Train will be played by Jessie T. Usher. A-Train’s negligence in the first issue of the comic winds up setting the stage for Wee Hughie (the main character) to join The Boys in an effort to take down The Seven and Vought-American. An analog for the Wally West version of The Flash, he was a former teen sidekick who graduated to the main team. Perhaps because of his age, he is the least mature, most sex-driven and hardest drug user of the team.
Usher starred in ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ as Dylan Hiller, the son of Will Smith’s character in the original. He also starred on the TV series ‘Level Up’ and ‘Survivor’s Remorse’.
There is still one member whose casting hasn’t been announced, Jack from Jupiter, the Martian Manhunter analog, with certain elements taken from Captain Marvel. There is also the Lamplighter, a former member who was replaced by Starlight. Lamplighter is the group’s equivalent of Green Lantern.
‘The Boys’ comic book is also populated by parody versions of The Teen Titans, The Avengers and X-Men (plus their various spin-off teams). It probably depends on how well the TV series is received as to whether we will see those characters on it at some point.
It should be interesting to see who is selected to play the actual members of ‘The Boys’, now that most of the background characters are out of the way.
‘The Boys’ TV series was created by Evan Goldberg (‘Preacher’, ‘Future Man’). The pilot was scripted by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. Eric Kripke serves as showrunner. Goldberg’s longtime collaborator Seth Rogan is one of the executive producers. The series is expected to hit Amazon in 2019.
What do you think of the cast so far?
Source: Deadline
