‘The Boys’ Exclusive: Jessie T. Usher And Susan Heyward Gleefully Embrace Show’s Graphic Effects And Promise More Wild Times Ahead!

Is it just us or did Season 4 of Prime Video’s hit series The Boys just fly by?

Our Sr. Content Director Janeé Bolden sat down with The Boys stars Susan Heyward and Jessie T. Usher during Prime Video’s Culture Rated junket at Essence Festival this summer to talk about the show.

If you’re anything like us — you likely are hoping, wishing and praying for the day that Heyward’s character Sister Sage will see the light and stop helping Homelander, however during our interview, Heyward defended her character Sister Sage’s relationship with Homelander.

“Sometimes things we bring to characters, we bring our own hopes, our own expectations and things we want to see and sometimes the way for us storytellers to go is undercut that, surprise you and give you something that you didn’t expect,” Heyward told BOSSIP of her Sister Sage’s dark alliance. “You didn’t know that maybe you needed to see this point of view too, so I’m happy that I was able to surprise you. I think we got you hooked.”

Jessie T. Usher Says ‘The Boys’ Character A-Train Has Grown

We’re undoubtedly hooked after following the show since Season 1 — and so much has changed since then! Jessie T. Usher also spoke to BOSSIP about A-Train’s growth over the past few seasons.

“He’s grown,” Usher told BOSSIP. “I think when we met him he was numb and just throughout this process we’ve seen him start to feel again and it’s just changed a lot about him. He at one point was willing to kill the love of his life and now he’s willing to die for something that’s greater than him so he’s made a big change. He’s made a big flip. It’s been a long journey, but you know his back has been against the wall for so long I think it’s time he starts fighting his way out for something different.”

If you’re at all squeamish, the graphic nature of The Boys can sometimes be hard to digest but both actors revealed they love the gory side of the show and spoke about working with practical sets.

‘The Boys’ Actors Reveal Production Built Larger Than Life Size Penis, Whale And More For Show

“I love it!” Susan Heyward revealed. “I’m always hungry to see how we’re pushing the envelope.”

“The process of it is so intriguing,” Usher added. “I sometimes read it on the page and the only thing that I can think about is, how are they gonna pull this off? The thing about our show is we do a lot of things practically. Yes we do have an incredible visual and special effects team but they build a lot of practical sets for us. They built that penis that the man jumped into. It was like life-sized and they lubed him up and he actually dove into it. It’s not green screen. They built the whale. The brought that and dropped it on the set and we could go inside the whale for real. So seeing that stuff come together, it does the opposite for me. When I watch I be eating, like ‘Whoa that turned out good’

While Season Four of the hit Prime Video series just ended, we’re itching for Season 5. The actors couldn’t tease too much but they did remind us that the show often reflects parts of what’s going on in real life.

“Eric [The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke] likes to say like as the world it’s crazier the boys gets crazier so if everybody’s paying attention to what’s going onm I say get ready for the stakes to always be hiked higher,” Susan Heyward warned. “Get ready for a lot of crazy.”

“Just look outside, a lot of crazy stuff is happening,” Jessie T. Usher added.”

The actors also spoke about the immense love they’ve gotten from fans of the show — especially those who were originally fans of the New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, who also serve as executive producers.

“It’s all love,” Susan Heyward confirmed.

“Yeah, it’s all love,” Jessie T. Usher agreed. “I think that they really appreciate how much we cater to the source material, but they also like the twist that we’ve been putting on it. I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from people who knew the source material, who were just happy to see something as wild as this make it to the screen and for us to not away from what this material is meant to say.”

“Making bold choices, they’re just as passionate about it as we are,” Susan Heyward added.

As bold as the show is, it’s refreshing you know to know that they’re not holding back. Speaking of refreshing though, we were excited to see Usher and Heyward enjoying the summer in shorts and a sundress — but apparently not as excited as them.

“Do you see what the suits have done to us?” Jessie T. Usher asked. “I wanna feel like I’m not wearing anything. I wanna feel air.”

“I wanna feel the wind on my skin, my skin needs to breathe,” Heyward added. “I’m human.”

“It’s amazing,” Usher continued. “We love the suits. The suits are incredible. The suits look so good on screen, like it’s incredible, but getting out of the suit is the best part of the day.”

“It’s great to pretend to be superhuman but it’s great to just be here,” Heyward said.

The Boys is currently streaming on Prime Video