The current fourth season of The Boys sees Homelander recruit two new members of The Seven, with the super-smart Sister Sage and alt-right TV host Firecracker shaking things up in a big way and causing major problems for Billy Butcher and the gang.
Though Firecracker's abilities are fairly innocuous (she has sparkle-fingers, basically), the conspiracy theory-spouting extremist proves to be adept at manipulating the masses (though she likely believes every word she says) and leads a successful smear campaign against Annie January and her Starlighters.
Firecracker is an openly racist, homophobic boor - not exactly the type of person you'd expect someone from the LGBTQ+ community to connect with. However, actress Valorie Curry - who identifies as a lesbian - tells THR that she did just that.
“It sounds so gross to say, but I really connected with her right off the bat. It should be somebody from the community who’s getting to make a clown out of her. So there isn’t any ambiguity.”
“As an actor, our first job isn’t to judge our characters,” she continues, noting that “childhood trauma” explains much of Firecracker’s behaviour: “Right or wrong, she’s someone who believes she’s been marginalized.”
To be fair, Firecracker does have good reason to be resentful towards Starlight... even if she did take things way too far in "Wisdom of the Ages" and got a brutal beat-down for her troubles.
If you want a full breakdown of what happened in this week's episode, click here.
"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," reads the official season 4 synopsis. "Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son as well as 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."
Returning cast members include 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, along with new recruits Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The first three episodes of The Boys season 4 will be available to stream from June 13th, with new instalments dropping weekly through to the season finale on July 18.