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A lot of things have changed since The Boys first appeared on our screens in 2019. Characters have died. Butcher got superpowers. And, during a moment that star Jack Quaid is unlikely to ever forget, The Boys drove a boat through a whale. Antony Starr, who plays Homelander in the series, was worried that was the series had gone too far at that point, but he happily admits he was wrong as we approach the final episode of The Boys Season 5.

For those who missed it, in The Boys Season 2, Butcher and the gang are on the run from The Deep, who sends a whale to try to stop them from escaping on their boat. Undeterred, Butcher manages to drive the boat through the beached whale in a shocking gorefest that feels almost cartoonish when compared to the later episodes. Antony Starr recalled losing hope that The Boys would reach its full potential upon reading the script for that episode in a recent roundtable interview with Empire Magazine.

“I remember reading the whale episode and thinking, ‘Man, I thought this show was gonna be good,’” Starr explained while laughing. “I was like, ‘We’re jumping the shark already!’ That was a big lesson. I thought it was too far. I didn’t get it. And it became my favorite, I can’t get through it without laughing. It gets sillier and sillier and stupider and stupider – but it works because, weirdly, it’s all driven by the needs of the characters.”

Technically, the boat was driven by Karl Urban, but we see what Starr is saying here. The whale episode of The Boys not only showed how over-the-top the series could get with its gore and violence but also set up The Deep on his slow journey to betraying everything he believed in for the sake of staying in Homelander’s good graces.

The Boys continues on Prime Video through its series finale May 20.

They are brash, unforgiving, and a little rough around the edges... and they're the good guys! The heroes of Prime Video's The Boys, led by Karl Urban's Butcher, go up against the 'superheroes' that is the Seven, led by Anthony Starr's Homelander, leader of the Seven. With that show's five seasons plus spinoffs such as Gen V, Diabolical, and reportedly more, there's a lot to the Boys Franchise, and we're here to help... with: 

• How to watch The Boys in order
• Watch the full, official Boys panel from New York Comic Con 2021
• The secret origin of The Boys as a DC Comics superteam to beat the Justice League
• What to watch after The Boys
• Watch The Boys Season 5 panel from ECCC 2026