Chace Crawford And Claudia Doumit On The Boys Season 3, Eric Kripke, And The Weirdest Moments - Exclusive Interview
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"The Boys" are back in town, and things are getting much weirder — and bloodier in the upcoming Season 3. Chace Crawford is back as The Deep, as is Season 2 newcomer Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman. Season 2 of the series left off with The Deep's newfound allegiance with The Church of the Collective and, later, the bombshell that Victoria is the Head Popper, so there's a lot to unpack at the start of the third installment. But Doumit (known for her work in "Timeless" and " Call of Duty: Modern Warfare") and Crawford (from "The Covenant" and "Gossip Girl") were up for the challenge.
Crawford and Doumit spoke to Looper during an exclusive interview where the duo dished on their respective upcoming story arcs in "The Boys" Season 3. Crawford revealed why his parents aren't allowed to watch this season, detailed his steamy scenes with sea creatures, and why The Deep is vulnerable to getting sucked into a cult. Meanwhile, Doumit gushed about working with Eric Kripke again and dished on which former "Timeless" co-star she would love to share scenes with in "The Boys."
The Deep makes beach days weird ... again
Chace, The Deep has some of the wildest scenes that I've ever seen on TV. How do you get in the headspace to have raunchy moments with sea creatures? What do those scenes look like without the CGI? And do you tell your family not to watch the show?
Chace Crawford: Yes to everything. Yes to all of it. It was hard to sleep at night for a while, but I got through it. The funny thing is, without the CGI, it's very interesting. Like eating Timothy [the octopus] ... the little food parts were mochi balls or whatever, but they did put Scotch tape on my face and pulled my face ... And they were like, "Okay, we're done with that part." And then they do their magic [behind the scenes].
I did have a very long octopus necklace. It weighed like 40 pounds. They had to keep cutting limbs off of [it] because it was too heavy. It was a lot. And yes, my family can't watch this season.
Claudia Doumit: Did you tell them not to?
Chace Crawford: No. My mom literally was like, "Oh, and by the way, I keep seeing that this is the craziest season ever." And she asked, "Do I have to watch it?" Or something to that effect. I told her, "You don't have to watch it, Mom." My dad loves it, though. They both love it. But, honestly, I told them, "Guys, do not feel like you have to watch this season. Please don't. In fact, you're not allowed to."
Claudia Doumit: That's funny because I messaged them, and I said, "You have to watch this season, Chace's parents."
Chace Crawford: Yeah, right, exactly.
Dream cast interactions on 'The Boys'
Claudia, you also worked with showrunner Eric Kripke on "Timeless." What has it been like working with him again on "The Boys"? And if you ever got the chance to have a scene with Malcolm Barrett's character Seth on "The Boys," what would you want that interaction to look like?
Claudia Doumit: Oh my God. I haven't been asked this question up until this point.
Chace Crawford: Yeah. He's great too.
Claudia Doumit: I love Malcolm so much. And I love Eric so much. It's actually a dream to be able to work in the Kripke universe, and then to continue to work in the Kripke universe, it's amazing. I have a blast on every single one of those projects. ... I wish Malcolm and I got to interact on the show. That would [be] so much fun. But honestly, I don't know if we'd get any work done. I feel like Kripke probably knew that and probably was like, "They're just going to dick around the whole time." So he gave us no scenes together.
But it's so wonderful to be able to come onto this show because it's such an insanely amazing [series]. I was a fan of it before I came on, and I get to work with an amazing caliber of talent. I love it.
Chace Crawford: I want scenes with both her and Seth.
Claudia Doumit: Five stars. ... I want scenes with everyone.
Chace Crawford: The Deep, that'd be really interesting.
Getting deep into cults in Season 3
Chace, I'm always fascinated by the reasons people get sucked into shady cults and pyramid schemes. Why do you think The Deep was so vulnerable to get deep into the Church of the Collective? Can you tease where his cultish Season 3 arc is headed?
Chace Crawford: Yeah, he was such an easy sell. ... He's like, "Perfect. Religious acceptance." I mean, he was obviously in a bad place there, too, in prison for yelling at kids drunkenly at a water park. But, yeah I think he was so desperate.
He didn't know anyone in Sandusky, and he sort of did notice this kind of D-list old superhero who stuck his hand out and was like, "Want a Fresca?" Which [I] still don't understand, but it was good. It was an obvious play on other religious organizations, but it was a funny and interesting way to show his own journey. And they gave him the mushroom tea, which was so much fun to shoot. ... What was the question again?
Claudia Doumit: How you get sucked into a cult?
Chace Crawford: I do think you only turn to that kind of stuff when you're like totally broken. So he was really needing some type of guidance to make sense of it all, to make some meaning and then also sort of try and use that as a springboard to get back at The Seven, which he wasn't really intelligent enough to do himself. He needed his arranged marriage wife to strategize and put that together for him.
New episodes of "The Boys" Season 3 stream Fridays on Prime Video.
This interview was edited for clarity.