"I Needed To Project That Homelander": The Boys' Antony Starr Reveals His Creative Input In Homelander's Season 4 Ending Speech

This article contains spoilers from The Boys season 4 finale.

Summary Starr's suggestion impacted The Boys season 4 finale, showing Homelander's power.

Starr suggested that Homelander be front and center during the speech, which amplified the tense final moments in the finale.

With the U.S. government under his control, Homelander can now act without consequences.

Antony Starr explains how a suggestion of his impacted The Boys season 4 finale. Starr's performance as the narcissistic Homelander has been a consistent highlight of the Prime Video series, making him a convincing and formidable villain to watch. The Boys season 4 finale saw Homelander becoming more dangerous than ever as he now controls the new President of the United States of America, Steven Calhoun, and declares martial law that will be carried out by hundreds of supes.

In an interview with Vulture, Starr revealed what he suggested Homelander should do when speaking to the American people. Showrunner Eric Kripke took Starr up on his suggestion as it made sense for Homelander and how he would act at that moment, and would clearly communicate to the public that he is in control and not President Calhoun. The moment also helps to set up The Boys' final season. Check out Starr's explanation below:

Originally, I was just standing in the background saying nothing. I’m guessing the camera would have pushed past Calhoun onto me just smiling with satisfaction. But my instinct was Calhoun is a bought-and-paid-for puppet, and Homelander’s ego is gonna demand that he is front and center. I said to Eric, “Mate, it’s so in character for Homie to shuffle that guy out of the way and go, ‘Here’s what’s really going to happen.’” Eric absolutely ran with that. Even if we didn’t hear much of what he said, just the physicality of coming in, interrupting, and moving him out of the way says it all. It’s almost like the end of the second act in a movie, where the heroes are down and out and it looks like they’ve failed. I needed to project that Homelander the fascist, the narcissist, the villain of the piece, is winning, has won. It’s a setup for the Boys to claw back and fight as we go into season five. The show is ultimately about vigilantes trying to take down the evil — what is it in Star Wars? Who are they?

What Homelander's New Position Means For The Boys Season 5

Thanks To Sage, The U.S. Government Now Belongs To Homelander

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Pushing President Calhoun aside from his own speech while the world watches makes it clear to anyone paying attention that Homelander is in charge and can now do as he pleases.

Even though killing them would be easy, Homelander did not kill Billy Butcher and the Boys in season 4 because of their status as CIA operatives. That is no longer a concern, as Homelander doesn't need to worry about blowback from the CIA now that the United States government is essentially under his control. As seen in the closing moments of the season 4 finale, the supes legally deputized by President Calhoun have apprehended Hughie, Frenchie, Kimiko, and Mother's Milk, with only Starlight and Butcher escaping, and Homelander now free to do whatever he wants with the Boys.

Related Is Homelander President Of The USA When The Boys Season 4 Ends Homelander ends The Boys season 4 on top and in control, but a degree of ambiguity remains over whether the Seven's leader is president of the USA.

On a larger scale, Homelander can inflict as much carnage as he wants without consequences now that he can bend the law to his will. Pushing President Calhoun aside from his own speech while the world watches makes it clear to anyone paying attention that Homelander is in charge and can now do as he pleases. The United States is now a fascist nation led by a man whose ego and insecurities are unparalleled, and the dire results of this are only just beginning.

Homelander never could have achieved this without the planning of the brilliant Sage. This was only phase one of her plan and with phase two still to come, the country, and perhaps the entire world, will continue to suffer at the hands of Sage and Homelander. Both Sage and Homelander need to be defeated in The Boys season 5 for the world to be saved, as Homelander will never relinquish his power and Sage is the brains behind this new era of tyranny.

Source: Vulture