Products You May Like
The Boys season 2 reportedly wanted Helen Mirren to provide the voice of The Deep’s gills. The satirical superhero show quickly rose to become one of Amazon’s most successful series, raking in critical praise and claiming a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Season 2 of the show aired in September 2020 and introduced a number of new faces, the most prominent of which was Aya Cash as Stormfront. Work on The Boys season 3 began earlier this year, with a spin-off show based on a superhero college also ordered by Amazon Studios in September.
The Deep is played by Chance Crawford and is a member of the main cast, along with Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell Jr., Antony Starr as Homelander, and Erin Moriarty as Starlight. Picking up after the events of season 1, season 2 sees The Deep join the Church of the Collective after being exiled from The Seven. In a bizarre scene from The Boys season 2, The Deep found himself at a new low and started talking to his own gills. Patton Oswalt voiced his gills, but that wasn’t originally the plan.
During a NYCC Panel (via CBR), Crawford revealed that Kripke wanted the superhero’s gills to be voiced by Mirren. When Quaid asked Crawford if he knew Oswalt would voice his gills, The Boys actor gave a very unexpected answer. Crawford’s full quote on the original plan can be read below:
”No, I didn’t actually. I think… I remember Kripke saying, “We’re going to try and get Helen Mirren for this. We want Helen Mirren to do these scales.“
The Deep functions as one of the most satirical characters in a show that is entirely made up of parodies and dark humor. Audiences are tempted to rally around him, mostly from pity rather than any real sense of goodness, as his story proves more and more laughable in its misfortune. By season 2, The Deep is on a forced sabbatical from the Seven after a failed dolphin rescue and the tragic killing of a whale during a doomed attempt to stop Billy Butcher. His socially awkward nature would make him one of the few members of the Seven that viewers could sympathize with were it not for his sexual assault of Starlight in season 1, which saw many fans disregard any chance at his redemption.
The Deep’s gill scene in season 2 proved to be one of the strangest of the entire series, and it could have been even weirder if Mirren had been cast over Oswalt. The scene would have been shocking regardless of who voiced the Deep’s gills, but since Oswalt is known for his comedic roles, it makes sense he got the role. Mirren has proven herself a diverse actor by starring in period pieces as well as popular franchises like the DCEU and Fast and Furious, so she could have easily tackled a small voice role in The Boys. The Deep’s story in The Boys season 3 is still a mystery, but it’s more than possible he could have another conversation with his gills in a future episode.
Source: NYCC (via CBR)
