Taking inspiration from The Boys ’ universe — Amazon Prime Video’s anti-superhero show — a virtual press day which brought together the women from the show, titled Girls Get it Done, was held recently. Aya Cash (who plays the Nazi Stormfront), Erin Moriarty (Starlight), Karen Fukuhara (Kimiko), Shantel VanSanten (Becca Butcher) and Colby Minifie (Ashley) were present.
One thing that the actors felt strongly about? The show’s villains. Talking about Homelander, the sociopathic leader of The Seven (played by Antony Starr), Erin says, “I just think about him and it makes me so angry.” Shantel agrees, “I would probably want Becca to have whatever power it is that could incinerate Homelander in one second.”
Aya, meanwhile, has this to say about her character in the show. “I just want to say she is despicable and disgusting.”
Edited excerpts:
With Stormfront, we can draw parallels with the increased visibility of white supremacists in the US. Was it a factor in taking the role or did it make you apprehensive?
Aya Cash: Yes, to both. I was aware of the complications of the role, and what it was going to be shining a light on. I was apprehensive because there were no scripts, and so there was nothing for me to say, ‘This is the way it is being done and handled and I agree with that’.
I met with Eric Kripke when I was auditioning to talk about what the role was and what he was going to be doing with it and I was able to watch three episodes of the show to get the tone of it.I had a lot of trust in Eric Kripke because of the way that he talked about it and the real-life people that he was pointing to when crafting Stormfront. I felt like it was an important story. That is all you can do when you accept a job; take that leap of faith because it is hard to make something good.
Season two ends with Starlight and Queen Maeve with the upper hand against Homelander. How will this affect the dynamic between the two?
Erin Moriarty: I think there is an inevitable partnership to be formed and solidified. There has been a resistance from Queen Maeve, and it is partially because she is going through her own battle.
However, there is always an underlying presence that Queen Maeve has in Starlight’s life as a support system. I think it is because Queen Maeve and Starlight are the only females in The Seven until Stormfront joins.
I could see their necessity to band together as women who are working for this corporation that is out to objectify them.
Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander have similarities, but the difference is that the latter has experienced and given love. In that context, can you talk about Becca and Billy’s relationship?
Shantel VanSanten: The Becca that we meet in Season 2 isn’t authentically who she is. It is basically a character of herself that she plays for a much bigger reason. There is a darkness to Becca that we don’t get to explore as much. There are reasons that Becca and Billy connected, and it was important in episode four (of Season 2) for us to try to dive into a bit of their history and to allow you to see that they truly are soulmates. They can’t be together and make it work because of circumstances.
That part of it was really hard for me: that Becca sacrificed everything and ultimately, she doesn’t get everything to be happy. She has to keep making choices that are better for everyone else but herself.
A major theme in the show is Nature versus nurture. In this universe, how important is the parent, particularly the mother’s role, in raising a child?
Shantel: As it was described to me, it is the reason that Homelander turned out the way he did. He had people who are corrupt raising him for their own purposes rather than out of unconditional love. I think Becca understands that, and that is why she makes the sacrifices she does. Her task in life and this season, is to give the child nurturing, love, empathy and understanding of human emotions.
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Colby Minifie: I think that is something the show does well. It shows how corporations and people that have money to spend on changing the narrative can get away with murder. That is a part of The Boys storyline that I am happy to be a part of because it helps me become more aware of how a corporation can say ‘We believe in this’, and they don’t enact a lot of what they say. Then it becomes a capitalistic opportunity and it can also be a lie.
