Key Points
The Boys actor behind the latest casualty speaks after a major character death.
“I knew it was coming. I knew it was inevitable,” the star says.
Showrunner Eric Kripke explains how they decided which character would be killed off before the series finale.
Warning: This article contains spoilers from The Boys season 5, episode 7, “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk.”
The Boys final season approaches its endgame with season 5’s penultimate episode, which means a harsh reality sets in: Not everyone is going to make it. After the deaths of A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), Firecracker (Valorie Curry), and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), another major character experienced the ultimate sendoff.
With Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) out of commission and Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) with only passive powers at her disposal, Frenchie (Tomer Capone) sacrifices himself to Homelander (Antony Starr) to protect the others. He takes his last breaths in Kimiko’s arms as a recording of “Dream a Little Dream of Me” plays over the end credits.
“In the very early stages, we were talking about which member of The Boys needs to go in episode 7,” showrunner Eric Kripke tells Entertainment Weekly. “Then once you start breaking down what you need to happen in episode 8 and how it happens, your options start to get very limited, actually.”
Tomer Capone (Frenchie) and Karen Fukuhara (Kimiko) on ‘The Boys’ season 5
Credit: Jasper Savage/Amazon Prime Video
Capone remembers the courtesy Zoom call he got from Kripke ahead of season 5. Typically the executive producer meets briefly with all the actors to discuss their character arcs ahead of filming. This time, “He couldn’t hold it. He was like, ‘Buddy, I have to tell you something,'” the actor says. “And you know what? He didn’t even have to say it. I knew it. I felt it. I knew it was coming. I knew it was inevitable.”
In the aftermath of that virtual meeting, Capone walked around his apartment for a couple hours. “I didn’t have anything in my mind, I was just a zombie,” he describes of his mindset. At that point, he still didn’t have the script in front of him. When he finally got ahold of it, he felt it was, from Frenchie’s perspective, right to die for his love.
Kripke notes the writers’ room was talking about “one or two characters” who might’ve been killed off in the penultimate instead of Frenchie, but they ultimately went with the science guy of the gang. As the showrunner puts it, “It felt like we could get the most emotional impact. If you’re going to show how devastating the cost of a hard-won victory can be, you want someone that is gonna really emotionally hurt. Frenchie and Kimiko, in so many ways, have become the heart of The Boys.”
Frenchie (Tomer Capone), Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) on ‘The Boys’ season 5
Credit: Jasper Savage/Amazon Prime Video
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Capone doesn’t remember much for his last day on set, only that he went to everyone else’s last days of filming even if he wasn’t working, and they all returned the favor for him. “It was like a tribe saying goodbye,” he says. “It was very, very emotional, bittersweet, a lot of tears, a lot of crying, a lot of clapping, and a lot of hugs. So removing one of them and feeling the pain from the other felt like that was gonna be really moving.”
Reflecting on life after The Boys, Capone says he’ll miss the family atmosphere of the cast and crew. “It’s been a ride of a lifetime, professionally and personally,” the actor says. “So it’s all about what we created together, and I think that’s what resonates with the audience.”
The series finale will now premiere on Prime Video this May 20.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly