10 Best TV Shows Starring The Cast Of The Boys

For the past several years, "The Boys" has been one of the most successful — and admittedly perverse — shows on Amazon Prime Video. Based on the graphic novel series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, it explores a world in which a group of superheroes (called "supes") are the celebrity employees of the mysterious Vought Industries, where their abilities are used for everything from local photo ops to actual crime-fighting. But there's a nefarious underbelly to the community of elite supes — as they say, power corrupts, and these are some of the most powerful people in the world.

Many of the performers in "The Boys" have become so synonymous with their characters that you can sometimes forget that they've had thriving careers in Hollywood well before putting on their costumes. But a handful have starred in (or at least had prominent roles) in other popular television series, so you might be surprised which of these supes or their non-powered co-stars you've actually seen before in a different capacity. Here of some of the best shows that have featured cast members from "The Boys." (And to be clear, we didn't include any shows where they popped up for just an episode for two, because where's the fun in that?)

In a lot of ways, Antony Starr is so deeply intertwined with the wildly unstable, frequently homocidal Homelander on "The Boys" that it's tough to imagine him playing any other role. How can you look at that face and not see just a narcissistic supe with a wooden smile looking like it's his first day impersonating an actual human? But believe it or not, Starr had a thriving acting career before he joined the cast of "The Boys" as one of its strongest superheroes — including headlining the Cinemax original series "Banshee."

Airing for four seasons between 2013 to 2016, "Banshee" takes place in the heart of Amish country in Pennsylvania. By all rights, it should be a peaceful community, but they're thrown a wrench when the ex-con Lucas Hood (Antony Starr) rolls into town posing as its new sheriff. He's on the run from a formerly Amish gangster who he's double-crossed one too many times, and he thinks this new role will provide him a modicum of protection. We're not experts, but we doubt that.

Although Cinemax hasn't traditionally been a powerhouse for original television shows, "Banshee" was well-received, particularly in its ability to build out the titular town of Banshee and its inhabitants, rather than exclusively focusing on Hood's trials. If you like crime dramas, this is one to watch.

On "The Boys," Chase Crawford plays one of the show's biggest punching bags. He's The Deep, a superhero who has the ability to communicate with underwater creatures, as well as breathe underwater — a skill he sometimes uses for good but more often as an opportunity for weird intimate stuff with mollusks. So he's not exactly the most dignified supe on "The Boys" — and to be honest, that's not a high bar to clear.

But once upon a time, Crawford was poised as the next big teen idol, with the role of Nate Archibald on "Gossip Girl" as his trophy. Nate was rich, handsome, and had the world at his feet; one half of a high school power couple with queen bee Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) — until, of course, soapy drama gets in the way. His performance here is charming, but he doesn't get to be as unabashedly weird as he is in "The Boys," and we're always happy when the teen pin-up types finally have the chance to embrace their inner freak.

Let's be real, there probably aren't too many "The Boys" viewers who aren't familiar with the role that made Jensen Ackles famous. Before he joined the cast in the third season as Soldier Boy, a seemingly immortal supe who's actually the biological father of Homelander (what can we say? He's got a complicated backstory), he headlined a very different genre series — the famous (infamous) CW series, "Supernatural."

As Dean Winchester, he's one half of a unstoppable sibling duo alongside his younger brother Sam (Jared Padalecki). Together, they fight the forces of darkness, one minute fighting malevolent spirits and the next trying to stop the literal gates of Hell from opening. He goes through the ringer over the course of the show's incredible 15-season run, including a not-so-brief stint in Hell itself (yes, really). It's the role that made his career, and almost certainly paved the way for him to take on the mantle of Soldier Boy on "The Boys" with such grizzled confidence.

You would be forgiven for not recognizing Nathan Mitchell from his time on "The Boys." After all, he does spend a lot of time hidden behind a full body costume as Black Noir, and the character isn't known for being particularly loquacious. (That changes once Mitchell takes on the role of Black Noir II later in the series, of course.) But one show where you can see plenty of Nathan Mitchell is "Ginny & Georgia," a frothy teen soap opera from Netflix. 

It revolves around a teenage girl and her young mother as they move to a charming small town in New England, hoping to escape some of the mistakes of their past. One of those mistakes is Zion Miller, played by Mitchell. The biological father of Ginny (Antonia Gentry), he's been a sporadic presence in her life, at best, and when he turns up in their new town trying to get close to both her and her mother, she has a kneejerk reaction to pull away. Zion gives Mitchell the opportunity to explore a character who's a little bit more complicated and dynamic than the often mute and masked Black Noir.

As Queen Maeve on "The Boys," Dominique McElligott doesn't ever seem to get a break. Between Maeve being traumatized by her superhero exploits gone wrong, and being publicly outed as bisexual when Homelander's feeling petty, heavy is the head that wears the crown. Although she does get a comparatively happy ending, which is more than we can say for some of her fellow supes.

Before the Irish actress took on the role of Queen Maeve, she was featured in another streaming hit that routinely put her in difficult positions. She played Hannah Conway on "House of Cards," the wife of Republican presidential candidate William Conway (Joel Kinnaman). Featured as a recurring cast member in Season 4 before being promoted to the show's main cast in Season 5, Hannah and her husband represent a pure, value-based American family, an obvious contrast to the cynical political maneuvering of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey). But don't be fooled — they know how to play the game as well as anyone.

One of the youngest cast members of "The Boys," Cameron Crovetti plays Ryan Butcher, whose life is, well ... complicated from day one. He's raised by his mother, Becca (Shantel VanSanten), the presumed dead wife of Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). But his lineage is far darker than just that. He's the child of a sexually violent encounter between Homelander and Becca, and when Homelander finds out that he has a biological son in the world, he wastes no time in trying to get his hooks in him. But while Ryan has inherited his father's superpowers, he's also just a child, and isn't always able to control them — sometimes leading to tragic consequences.

Child actor Cameron Crovetti had been acting long before his turn on "The Boys," often alongside his twin brother Nicholas. One of his earliest roles was on "Big Little Lies," where he and Nicholas played Josh and Max Wright, the twin sons of Celeste (Nicole Kidman) and Perry (Alexander Skarsgard). They flesh out the personal life of Celeste, who along with several other women in town becomes embroiled in a murder investigation. 

In a world full of unstable superheroes, Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) is one of the most interesting characters because she chooses to throw herself into the chaos purely out of ambition. She begins the series as a low-ranking Vought International publicist, but there's apparently no limit to how far she can rise within the confines of the show — if she's willing to do whatever it takes, of course.

In addition to her work on "The Boys," Minifie took on a key role in "Fear the Walking Dead." A spin-off of the popular AMC series (also based on a graphic novel), "The Walking Dead," "Fear" followed the exploits of another group of survivors in the Southwest beginning at the very start of the zombie apocalypse. Minifie plays Virginia, the leader of a group called the Pioneers, and she operates with brutal efficiency to prevent dissension within her ranks. Although two very different shows, Minifie brings a corporatized, girl boss energy to both "The Boys" and "Fear the Walking Dead."

As Sister Sage, Susan Heyward plays one of the most intelligent supes in "The Boys" — but when push comes to shove, she finds herself just as capable of making corrupt and immoral decisions as her fellow superheroes. Apathetic at the idea of a battle between supes and humans, she secretly plans to watch the showdown from her own private bunker.

Unlike Sister Sage, Heyward's character on "Orange is the New Black" is emotionally invested in the lives of those surrounding her. At first a corrections officer and eventually the warden of the women's prison, she takes an interest in the wide array of characters who end up in her care, especially Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson (Danielle Brooks). As one of the few members of the prison administration who show the inmates genuine empathy, she stands out as an optimistic figure within the system.

A lot of the superheroes on "The Boys" wear their abilities on their sleeve — after all, it's an avenue to power, prestige, and fame. But Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) plays her cards a little closer to her chest. Outwardly, she's a promising young congresswoman who has built her career on the promise of holding companies like Vought International to account, preventing them from operating without any oversight. But she's not quite who she claims to be. She has superpowers of her own, and they're a doozy: She can explode the heads of anyone she wants, a skill she takes full advantage of over the course of the show.

The NBC series "Timeless" may not have any superheroes (though it does have Erik Kripke, "The Boys" creator, in charge), but it does have a powerful sci-fi element: Time machines. While the main crew are traveling to different points in history, Claudia Doumit plays Jiya, one of the talented young techs at Mason Industries who spearheaded the development and execution of the entire time travel process.

Jack Quaid's been charming his way through Hollywood for years now, taking on affable everyman roles that you want to root for. That's certainly the case for his performance as Hughie on "The Boys" — if there's such a thing as a moral center to this deeply cynical show, Hughie is the closest thing to it. As an ordinary human whose girlfriend is accidentally killed by a supe's careless mistake, he ends up getting embroiled in an investigation of Vought International that will lead him into a war pitting supes against non-supes.

Most of Quaid's famous non "The Boys" credits have been on the big screen, with one major exception. He plays the lead role of Brad Boimler, a human ensign on "Star Trek: Lower Decks." Relegated to an unexciting role on a significantly less glamorous starship than the ones we're used to seeing on Star Trek, he nonetheless dreams of becoming a captain one day. Although the series is animated, Quaid also makes a live-action appearance as Brad on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," where he geeks out over the young version of Spock (Ethan Peck), a legendary figure in his time.