Ever since we got our first look at The Boys season 4, much has been said about actor Laz Alonso's weight loss.
Having learned nothing from the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman's battle with cancer (the internet dubbed him "crack panther" when he was spotted looking slimmer than normal), many fans wasted no time in poking fun at Alonso, going so far as to suggest Mother's Milk must have been recast.
In an interview with Men's Health, Alonso explained his decision to lose weight and revealed that it was both for his own good and something he believed made sense for the character.
"I was heavy on caloric surplus when I first started the show," the actor said. "Season 1 and 2, I wanted to look like the comic. Season 3, we shot during and after COVID and I went from looking like the comic to looking like a very inflated version of the comic."
"Uber Eating every day, eating a lot of pizza, eating a lot of burgers. I discovered Toronto's best pizzas and burgers. I put on close to 40lbs. It didn't hit me until I saw the promotional posters for season 3 and I saw my face. I was like, 'Who the heck is that?' I actually asked Amazon if they had added weight to me. I didn't realise how big I had gotten. For a guy that's six feet, with shoes on, I was pushing 250lbs and it was a lot of weight."
"It wasn't healthy. Before season 4 came around, I wanted to do something real different," Alonso continued. "I always meet with [Erik] Kripke at the top of the season and he told me, 'This season, Mother's Milk is gonna go through a big transition' so I wanted to, in his OCD fashion, to depict that and show that visibly. I went into an extreme calorie reduction. I shaved because now he reports directly to the White House."
"This guy is back into his regimented, military way of running things and you'll see that as the season progresses," the actor concluded.
Unlike Boseman, ill health wasn't the main reason Alonso lost weight between seasons 3 and 4 of The Boys. However, it very easily could have been, so this may serve as a lesson not to so quickly judge someone's appearance. Unfortunately, if the discourse surrounding Erin Moriarty is any indication, little will change.
You can hear more from Alonso in the player below.
In The Boys season 4, the world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power.
Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca's son and his job as The Boys' leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it's too late.
The series stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and Cameron Crovetti. Season Four will welcome Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The entirety of The Boys season 4 is now streaming on Prime Video.