{"id":623128,"date":"2026-04-22T08:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/623128\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:13:14","slug":"karl-urbans-year-living-in-australia-was-the-toughest-of-his-life-he-has-no-regrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/623128\/","title":{"rendered":"Karl Urban\u2019s year living in Australia was the toughest of his life. He has no regrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Like many residents of Bondi, Karl Urban\u2019s daily ritual while living in the beachside suburb included mantras. But, unlike the phrases favoured by those who enjoy crowding the boulevard for group exercise, the actor\u2019s were not self-assuring.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat am I doing?\u201d was a chart-topper. Followed by, \u201cActually, I\u2019ll go back to university. I\u2019ll study. Let\u2019s get smart about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"What<\/a><\/p>\n

With a handful of guest television roles under his belt, a 22-year-old Urban had moved from Auckland to a flat in Sydney\u2019s east to further his acting career. He ended up spending 1995 largely unemployed, save for a stint at a Double Bay bottle shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody knows who you are, and your credits and your work experience in New Zealand didn\u2019t really matter much,\u201d says Urban, who is now 53. \u201cYou\u2019re really a persona non grata.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the toughest year of his life. But he says it was also one of the most \u201cformative and amazing\u201d \u2013 it made him resilient. By 1996, Urban was back home and cast in Xena: Warrior Princess<\/a>, with The Lord of the Rings<\/a> following shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n

The lesson? \u201cDon\u2019t give up. If you stand at the roulette table long enough, your number will come up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Determination \u2013 or obstinacy \u2013 is a quality Urban says he shares with Billy Butcher, his dark character in Amazon Prime Video\u2019s The Boys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now in its fifth and final season<\/a>, fans are waiting to see if the vigilante can complete his quest for revenge. Butcher wants to destroy the sociopathic, all-powerful Homelander (Antony Starr<\/a>), and while he\u2019s at it, eliminate all superhumans in a genocide that would also include himself, and friends Starlight (Erin Moriarty<\/a>) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Steve<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTo do what he needs to do, [Butcher] has had to remove elements of his humanity,\u201d Urban says. \u201cIt\u2019s not to say that he doesn\u2019t care, because he does … that fire, it\u2019s running low, but it\u2019s still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher is like a general who\u2019s leading an army, Urban says. To send soldiers \u2013 his found family \u2013 on a mission that may cost them their lives, emotion has to be removed from the equation.<\/p>\n

The stakes have never been higher, the violence never bloodier<\/a>. That\u2019s partly because Butcher took superpower-inducing Compound V, becoming what he swore to destroy.<\/p>\n

Season five\u2019s ultimate question, says Urban, is this: If you sink to the lows of your enemy, is there hope for you? Can you retain any degree of your humanity and your compassion?<\/p>\n

\"BillyBilly Butcher\u2019s mission is not just to destroy Homelander, but to eliminate all superhumans while he\u2019s at it. The genocide would include himself, plus friends Starlight (Erin Moriarty, right) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara, left).Jasper Savage\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

Although The Boys was green-lit to satirise and disrupt a genre flooded with Marvel and DC\u2019s cartoonish take on superheroes<\/a> \u2013 Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is a twisted Captain America, Homelander a warped Superman \u2013 Marvel and DC are no longer the first things that come to mind when Homelander has a meltdown and turns his lethal laser gaze to crowds of civilians, or his lieutenants.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"\u201cNothing<\/a><\/p>\n

Urban agrees with the fans and critics who feel the show has gone from a \u201ccrazy fun house mirror\u201d parody of superhero fiction to a scary reflection of political reality. Even with its special effects and signature outlandish stunts \u2013 a notorious accidental death in season three<\/a> meant the art department had to erect a 3.4-metre high, 9.1-metre-long penis for an Ant-Man-esque hero to spelunk through \u2013 The Boys now feels like a documentary.<\/p>\n

Series creator and showrunner Eric Kripke has been clear<\/a> that season five was written before the 2024 US presidential election. It felt \u201cfar-fetched\u201d in the writers\u2019 room more than 18 months ago, he told TV Guide<\/a>, meant to be a \u201c1984 version of what creeping authoritarianism looks like in America\u201d.<\/p>\n

By the time the first two episodes aired earlier this month, some plot points had real-life parallels; Starlight\u2019s supporters are being rounded up and imprisoned in internment camps (called \u201cfreedom camps\u201d), with neighbourhoods and families fractured as they turn each other in to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\"ShowrunnerShowrunner Eric Kripke based Homelander (Antony Starr) on Donald Trump. A key plot point this season for Homelander is his quest to become God.Jasper Savage\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

Perhaps Kripke\u2019s knack for prediction is less about having the powers of a seer and more to do with the fact that he based his interpretation of the comic book series\u2019 worst villain on Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A key storyline for Homelander this season is supplanting Christ to become saviour of the universe, and God himself. Within hours of this interview with Urban, Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure<\/a> to social media.<\/p>\n

But if Homelander is an analogue of Trump, then who is Butcher?<\/p>\n

\"Butcher\u2019sButcher\u2019s dog, Terror, is shown this season to remind audiences that he still has a degree of humanity in him. \u201cThat fire, it\u2019s running low, but it\u2019s still there,\u201d says Urban.Darren Goldstein\/Prime Video<\/p>\n

\u201cI tend not to actually break down the characters as they potentially relate to any real-life individuals,\u201d Urban says. \u201c[Butcher\u2019s] story is so multifaceted, and it\u2019s taken so many twists and turns \u2026 Everything that he is doing is about him trying to work through the loss of the love of his life, and the life that was ripped away from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butcher\u2019s vengeance may propel him, but other characters in The Boys \u2013 such as Hughie (Jack Quaid<\/a>) \u2013 move forward by holding on to fundamentally human qualities: compassion, altruism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the central thing that viewers should really hold on to is hope,\u201d Urban says. \u201cSmall acts of kindness \u2026 If we can all do that, that positivity is going to ripple out and hopefully make the world a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Boys (season five) is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n

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