Antony Starr's villainous Homelander just made another devastating decision in The Boys Season 5, leading to the death of a member of The Seven.
Warning - The rest of this article includes spoilers for The Boys Season 5, Episode 5.
At the end of The Boys Season 5, Episode 5, Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy informs Homelander that he's not only been sleeping with Valorie Curry's Firecracker, but she's been having doubts about her new God. This obviously upsets Homelander, leading him to pay Firecracker a visit and deliver the news that she's being let go from The Seven.
In a desperate move, Firecracker verbally fights back, desperately making excuses and arguing her case on why she should stick around—doing everything she can to convince Homelander that he's everything and nothing short of a God. Instead of getting put back on the team, Homelander rather abruptly shoves her head into the side of an eagle statue, impaling Firecracker on its metal wing and killing her.
The Direct sat down with The Boys star Valorie Curry in an exclusive interview, where we discussed her character's death and why Homelander ended her life.
At first, after reading the scene for the first time, Curry "wasn't totally sure why [Homelander] impulsively does it." However, that understanding quickly came to her as she sat on it and eventually brought the key moment to life on set.
First explaining where Firecracker was mentally when she engaged with Homelander, Curry said that she "think[s] that the argument that it turns into comes out of the fact that [Firecracker] has nothing left, no filter left" and that "the mask has completely fallen" due to her anger at him.
One of the key qualities about Firecracker, particularly when it comes to her dynamic with Homelander, is that "she will say things to him and speak to him in a way that nobody else does." In that moment, as she argued to him, Firecracker's basically just saying screw it to herself, hoping that she "can fix this" and that she's "already sold [her] soul, and [she] can really sell it now."
Her argument to Homelander is one that Curry felt that Firecracker was winning, which is why he impulsively shoved her head into the eagle statue. "It was too exposing of his humanity, which was exactly what he's been trying to distance himself from this whole season," she explained, adding how that meant, in his mind, that "[Firecracker] had to go."
The actress added that she "felt very much like it [wasn't] very conscious as a choice" on Homelander's part, and that impulsive nature is something Homelander and Firecracker share.
More of our conversation with Valorie Curry can be read below, including a discussion of whether Firecracker might have found redemption if she had lived. The Boys is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Why Did Homelander Kill Firecracker? Valorie Curry Shares the Reason
"When I First Read It... I Wasn't Totally Sure Why He Impulsively Does It."
- The Direct: "Episode 5 sees the end of Firecracker, sadly. Your death was so impactful. Both onscreen, but then it happens so suddenly that you almost physically feel it as a viewer. I was curious for you, what exactly was going through your head when you first read that scene? And everything that flashed across your mind as Firecracker's fate was sealed and revealed to you."
Valorie Curry: I think when I first read it, probably, I think it looked like she's begging in a way that maybe we've seen before, and I wasn't totally sure why he impulsively does it. And [then] a couple of things happened.
One of them was, I was really lucky that we shot all the scenes for me in that episode sequentially, so I got to experience the sort of drive, or I guess I should say, the breakdown of Firecracker. She is so utterly broken and at the end of her rope by the time she walks into that room. And also, because of that, I think that the argument that it turns into comes out of the fact that she has nothing left, no filter left. The mask has completely fallen, and so she's angry at him.
Curry opened up about how one thing she loves about doing scenes with Antony Starr is how they "tend to surprise each other with [their] choices." She also explained where Firecracker's mind is at as she tries to save her role on The Seven:
Curry: One of the things I love about doing scenes with Antony [Starr] is, I think we tend to surprise each other with our choices. He's like, You yell at me? Because the guy who yells at Homelander, like, you'll immediately get lasered. But her sort of unfilteredness—Before it was a fearlessness, and now it's just a [f*ck it]. It is why she will say things to him and speak to him in a way that nobody else does.
It's always been a kind of powerful thing for her, and then the way that that gets his attention in the scene, now she's got him hooked. And so it's like, okay, all right, I can fix this. How do I land this? And I've already sold my soul, and I can really sell it now...
The actress explained that she feels Homelander ends her character's life "because [Firecracker's] winning," something that "was too uncomfortable for him" and "too exposing of his humanity:"
Curry: My feeling in the end, and I'm sure there's a million reasons, and, you know, [Antony Starr] can speak to them, why he impulsively does that, is because she's winning. I felt she was winning the argument and that was too uncomfortable for him. That was too vulnerable for him. It was too exposing of his humanity, which was exactly what he's been trying to distance himself from this whole season. So she had to go.
Curry noted that she felt that Homelander's motion that ended Firecracker's life "[wasn't] very conscious as a choice" and leaned into an impulsive nature that the characters share:
Curry: And it felt very much like it [wasn't] very conscious as a choice, in the same way that I think me choosing yelling as he walked out the door, and I could have just been fired, and, like, I don't know, gone to work at Arby's. It was not a conscious choice. It's just this impulsive thing that happens, and maybe that's a quality they share.
Could Firecracker Have Ever Found Redemption?
"I Don't Think I Would Want Her to Be Redeemed..."
- The Direct: "I want to talk about redemption, because, you know, A-Train managed it. If Firecracker had lived longer, do you think there's a world where she could have been redeemed? Was that ever a path that you see her maybe having gone down, or that was just not her?"
Valorie Curry: I think if we'd had three more seasons, like, if she got a lot of time, I could see her perhaps like working with The Boys in some kind of way, because Homelander has so fallen apart. In her eyes, he's fallen so far off the pedestal, like she's discovered that he's dangerous, he's mercurial, he's stupid, and now he's absolutely insane and even more dangerous because of that. So I could see perhaps that, but I don't see that as a redemption arc for her.
"I don't think I would like it if she got a redemption arc in that way," Curry explained, adding how Firecracker is so much worse a person than A-Train, who did manage to get redemption:
Curry: I never really saw her as a character who was going to be redeemed, and I don't think I would want her to be redeemed... A-Train got it, [but] Firecracker, in so many ways, is so much worse than A-Train as a person... She's a racist, homophobic, transphobic piece of sh*t. And I don't think I would like it if she got a redemption arc in that way, but in the same way that she is still treated like a human, and we see her humanity. I think different choices, you know, working with The Boys, whatnot, could come out of that space, but never in a way of, like, redeeming her.
Our entire discussion with The Boys star Valorie Curry can be seen below:
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