Antony Starr Sure Sounds Like He's Done Playing Homelander

When The Boys first arrived on Prime Video, it seemed to be nothing more than what it said on the box: A graphic and vulgar skewering of the overly dominant superhero film industry. Adapted from the Garth Ennis comic of the same name, The Boys defied its genre trappings and proved itself to be a horrifyingly prescient look at the current state of American politics thanks to Antony Starr’s breakout performance as Homelander.

I feel very comfortable saying that Starr’s work on the character will be talked about the same way we talk about Tony Soprano and Walter White. He’s that menacing and indicative of the times that, frankly, I don’t know how you discuss Donald Trump without invoking Homelander. The two practically became one and the same, even though it took some moron fans of the show over three seasons to finally figure out that Homelander is the bad guy. Hell, Season 4 was practically devoted to driving that point home, and may have suffered for it, but let’s not get lost in those weeds.

With the fifth and final season of The Boys arriving next year, Starr decided to bid farewell to Homelander late last night. It’s a somewhat surprising move, because as much as The Boys was dedicated to mocking Marvel, it quickly fell into the cinematic universe trap with an ever-growing list of spinoffs that all have Homelander’s shadow hanging over them. One can argue that The Boys became what it hates, and apparently, Starr will be getting off at the next station.

Via Instagram:

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. 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.

And at the end of the shoot, all there really is to say is- thank you. The incredible Canadian crew. The amazing production team. The insanely talented cast. The people at Amazon and Sony that took a chance on this insane thing(and made the great choice in casting me😂)and all the other people that contributed in some way, big or small, to this beautiful, complex, warped, delicious show.

I love this show. And I love this character. Truly. I will dearly miss heading to work, knowing what we were aiming for but never knowing where we would find ourselves by the end of the day…only that we would have fun and it would be creatively rewarding in the extreme.
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.
And of course huge gratitude to my co-parent with this twisted gem of a character- @erickripke1 . 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. 🙏🏼

I don’t know about you, but that sure sounds like Starr is done with Homelander. And I get it. He’s openly talked about how he immediately grows a beard after shooting so fans don’t recognize him on the street. Not that Starr isn’t appreciative of the fans, he openly thanks them in his goodbye. But as I mentioned earlier, some “fans” really missed the point of Homelander, and Starr wisely steers clear of all of that. Can you blame him?

You can read Starr’s full tribute to The Boys here.