Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: the boys
The Boys: Starr Says Goodbye to Homelander's Hair: "You Were Epic"
The Boys star Antony Starr took to social media to offer an emotional goodbye to one of his biggest influences: Homelander's hair.
Earlier this month, Antony Starr took to social media with a touching and heartfelt post where he thanked all the folks who helped bring Prime Video and Showrunner Eric Kripke's The Boys to life and the fans who remained committed to the madness. In addition, it also gave him a chance to say goodbye to a character who was both a monster and a fascinating, challenging role to tackle: Homelander. But it appears Starr wasn't quite done, returning to social media on Wednesday evening to say goodbye to something that impacted Starr personally on a number of levels: Homelander's hair.
"I'm going to keep these safe and perhaps one day I'll think of something fun to do with them. Perhaps too, I'll be able to find the words to express the experience we had together. But I doubt it," Starr shared to kick off the caption to a post that included a look at his Homelander hair sealed with today's date and at Starr with a serious haircut. "Also, Maybe they are a "this" not a "these". There's a lot of them after all. Anyways they are no longer on my head, where they spent the past seven years. Hard to believe this is it. They are leaving us. #Homelandershair is officially wrapped. RIP John's hair. You were epic. Thank you for not falling out. And being so real. You were the best hairs a guy could ask for. You will be missed, sweet mane of mine," Starr continued. "God only knows how I'll move on from you, hair. Goodbye old friend. Goodbye."
The Boys: Antony Starr Says Goodbye to Team, "Monster" Homelander
"Difficult (for me) to put into words what an incredible ride this has been. How much life and growth has occurred. How amazing the team is. It's truly been the highlight of my career," Starr penned in the caption to his post. "When we began, I had no idea what was coming. This juggernaut left the station and never stopped. Except for that COVID moment. Oh, and the strikes. That was a thing too. But apart from those two times, it never stopped, boldly making its mark on the television landscape. There's nothing else like it. It lives in its own lane." From there, Starr proceeded to offer a rundown of those who "contributed in some way, big or small, to this beautiful, complex, warped, delicious show," including his co-stars, the production team, the studio and streamer for backing the show, and others.
As for his time as Homelander, Starr shared, "This complicated character allowed the space and range to discover and push boundaries in a way I never expected, and I will always be grateful for this experience." Turning his attention to his "co-parent with this twisted gem of a character," Kripke said of Kripke, "We created a monster, sir. And I will miss him, and you. Til we roll out the last season. When I'll see you. But this creative chapter is closed , and I'll miss it, brother."
Before wrapping up, Starr addressed the fans who understood and supported the series over the years, offering a "massive thank you" and adding, "You are the life blood. Without you, we don't get to do this. And our fans are second to none. Mad love to you….and deepest respect for your taste."
The Boys: Eric Kripke Feels "A Fair Amount of Terror" About Finales
During Sony's "Creator to Creator" podcast, Kripke and Shawn Ryan (The Night Agent) had a chance to share what life is like as a showrunner, and if there were two people who have the resumes to have this conversation, it's Kripke and Ryan. Beginning at around the 33:50 mark in the clip above, Kripke reveals his mindset in terms of crafting a series finale that remains true to the show's creative vision while satisfying the faithful viewers. "I am in a fair amount of terror about a series finale," Kripke shared. "You can count in one, maybe two hands, the truly great series finales… the graveyard is literally filled with terrible series finales."
Kripke continued, "How do you tie up the stories? How do you do it in a way that is emotional and satisfying? How do you do it in a way that creates — frankly — the illusion that some detail that you dropped in Season 1 or Season 2 is now suddenly coming back to pay off?" He continued," You could have the greatest show for years, but if you stiff that ending, and that's what's sending everyone out in the parking lot, they go, 'Oh, maybe that show wasn't that good'."
Regarding series finales that hit and hit hard, Kripke shared what he learned from writers and how they approached the lead-up to Breaking Bad S05E16: "Felina" (written and directed by series creator Vince Gilligan). "'Breaking Bad,' to me, is as good as a show gets, and I was able to ask some of those writers, I'm like, 'The way you tied everything together, how did you do that?' And they said, 'Oh, we had just a list of loose ends on our board that we had no idea what to do with them, that we would keep compiling over the seasons. And then when it came time to do the final season, we would just start checking them off of like, how do we pay them off, cuz we're gonna look like geniuses because the Season 2 storyline becomes this.'"
