The Boys returns to Amazon for its second season on September 4th with three episodes, while new instalments will then be released over the following five weeks. After the show's critically acclaimed first year, there's a huge amount of excitement surrounding this next batch of episodes, and after watching the first few chapters, we promise you that you're in for a real treat.
You can check out our review next week, but in the meantime, we're sharing some excerpts from our recent conversations with the cast and crew of The Boys after participating in a series of roundtable interviews last month. An undeniable highlight was getting to speak to Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian actor Giancarlo Esposito about playing Stan Edgar, the CEO of Vought International.
We put it to the actor that while he's surrounded by larger than life characters in The Seven, he somehow still manages to be the most intimidating guy in the room. So, what's his secret to playing such great villains? Esposito's answer was, as you might expect, both fascinating and insightful.
"I think my real secret is to be centred. With Stan, he seems different to some of the other powerful, in control, slightly villainous characters I’ve played before. I was looking and going, ‘Why is that?’ Well, he’s not rocked by the world. He’s on top of the world, but circumstances are going to happen, and he has to take steps to mitigate the damage. As he says in one scene with Homelander, which I really think gets to Homelander: ‘You’re running around thinking you’re running the show, and I have to mitigate all the damage because you’ve allowed the public to know what Compound V is.’
"So, I feel as if what my secret is to really listen. I really take Anthony in when I’m in those intense scenes with him. I really take the other actors in, and I feel like I’m not threatened by it because I’m going to find a solution and convince any of The Seven that come to me with their problems, or as Homelander comes to me with his big ego, I’m going to try and figure out how to have them understand that it’s bigger than they are. The other part of it is, it’s bigger than Stan. I love the scene where Stan wants all these things for the Defence Department and he’s asked, ‘Who is going to be in charge of all these people?’ 'Well, the same person as always: me. That’s it, the buck stops here.' He is that guy and he can do that job.
"So, for me, it’s getting calm and really listening, Josh. It’s about really understanding that to have power, you don’t have to display that you have power. You have it, or you don’t. That’s really it. Power is in being calm and not getting excited when you’re confronted by an emotional person. It’s having the ability to step back and have a different mindset about how the situation will unfold."
There are some actors out there who get "typecast" as villains, but in Esposito's case, he brings something massively different to each and every one of them, hence why that's not ever really the case with him. Yes, he plays a lot of baddies, but they're all so layered, it's not like he's repeating himself!
It's great getting some insight into how he achieves that, particularly in regards to The Boys. Stan is a character who looks set to make a major impact in season two, and watching Esposito butt heads with the likes of Homelander and new addition Stormfront are bound to be among this year's highlights.
Check out the trailer for season two below: