How The Boys Pulled Off Season 5’s Biggest Cameo

Photo: Jasper Savage/Prime Video

Throughout its high-stakes fifth and final season, The Boys has leaned heavily into a parade of high-profile cameos. The season opener featured MSNBC’s Chris Hayes grilling Vice President Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) during a tense press event. By the fifth episode, the series orchestrated a full-blown Supernatural homecoming; showrunner Eric Kripke brought in Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy and Antony Starr’s Homelander to disrupt a poker game featuring Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins. The table was rounded out by executive producer Seth Rogen, alongside Kumail Nanjiani, Will Forte, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse—all portraying satirical versions of themselves.

Kripke admits to Polygon that many of these star-studded appearances are directly tied to the industry connections of Rogen and executive producer Evan Goldberg. “I rely on them quite a bit for that,” Kripke says. “If they have a relationship with someone, they can make that call.” However, one particular guest star in the latest episode represented a genuine bucket-list achievement for the showrunner.

[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for The Boys season 5, episode 7.] Image: Darren Goldstein/Prime Video

The legendary Samuel L. Jackson lends his voice to Xander, a hammerhead shark featured in episode 7, “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk.” Xander confronts The Deep (Chace Crawford) over his role in the catastrophic destruction of an underwater pipeline. Though The Deep utilized the shark for transportation earlier in the season, Xander is in no mood for camaraderie, leaving The Deep isolated in the show’s penultimate chapter.

Kripke notes that securing Jackson was a stroke of pure serendipity. “We were looking for a truly iconic voice—and in Hollywood, who does that better than Sam Jackson?” he explains. “We reached out to his representation as a long shot, thinking, Would he even be interested? To our surprise, they came back and said he’s a fan of the show and was on board. Having Samuel L. Jackson deliver lines I wrote? That’s the definition of a career highlight.”

Jackson joins a growing list of A-listers to voice aquatic creatures on the show, following Tilda Swinton’s turn as The Deep’s octopus companion, Ambrosius, in season 4. Xander’s appearance serves as a harsh reminder that The Deep has burned all his bridges following the disastrous oil pipeline event from episode 6. The shark’s warning—that returning to the water might lead to a fate reminiscent of Deep Blue Sea—eventually scares The Deep away from performing a heroic rescue, further highlighting his moral bankruptcy. For Kripke, this outcome is exactly what the character deserves.

“The Boys operates in a universe that demands accountability,” Kripke reflects. “While the world is often cruel, there is a general sense of cause and effect: do good, and you’re generally supported; make morally bankrupt choices, and you face the consequences. Characters like Firecracker and The Deep are repeatedly given the chance to pivot toward integrity, yet they consistently choose the path of most resistance.”

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The first seven episodes of The Boys season 5 are currently streaming on Prime Video.

 

Source: Polygon