Why The Boys' Chace Crawford Thinks The Deep Is So Loyal To Homelander
While Amazon's Emmy Award-nominated show "The Boys" is ripping the superhero genre a new one, it does have heroes who share similar traits to more likable crimefighters we know, love, and don't fear as much. Homelander (Antony Starr) is to Superman what Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) is to Wonder Woman — that much is clear. In the case of sea-life-obsessed the Deep (Chace Crawford), though, he's less sea-ruling hero Aquaman and more a Booster Gold or Ted Kord's Blue Beetle. He's a D-lister who somehow found himself sitting at the top table of superheroes and has fought desperately to stay there.
He doesn't deserve it, of course. After a covered-up sexual assault (which even terrified showrunner Eric Kripke) and being the consistent lapdog to Homelander since the show started, the Deep has had plenty of chances to take a road to redemption but instead chooses a more accessible route that guarantees his hands will only get filthier. So what has kept the Deep from drowning under his own misdeeds and still staying dedicated to his boss in the cape and knee-high red boots? Well, Crawford recently got into the seaweeds of the matter and deduced that while there might be a sliver of good left in the Deep, it's outweighed by a greater force that knows just how to work him.
Crawford believes the Deep will do anything to stay in the Seven — and Homelander knows it
Following the Season 3 finale, Chace Crawford talked with Variety about the Deep's future in a world that is very low on heroes. With the Seven now down to three, the pressure is greater than ever to stay in the superhero spotlight, but he just might not appreciate how hard it'll be to stay there.
"I don't think he really fully grasps the severity. I think he knows in his mind that there's a line there, but I don't think he has a choice," Crawford explained. "He's seen what it's like to be kicked to the curb and be that D-list, washed-up supe in Sandusky, Ohio. I think he's so afraid to go back to that place, now he's gotten back in there." As great as it is to be rubbing shoulders with a god-like being with a superiority complex, just what is the Deep willing to do to stay there? Well, absolutely anything, as it turns out.
Upon review of his gilled alter ego, Crawford said, "His position is so tenuous still with Homelander, he'll do anything and Homelander obviously knows that and is manipulative and always testing his loyalty." It's clear that the Deep's devotion to his feared leader may still be strong, but will there ever come a time where he sees the error of his ways? Incredibly, Crawford thinks we shouldn't hold our breath, underwater or otherwise.
Chace Crawford doesn't believe the Deep should get a second chance
When asked by Outlook if there was any hope for the Deep, Chace Crawford contested, saying, "It's a question that is often asked. Can you forgive such people? Like, how does it go?" In the end, even the man who had spent the first three seasons putting the Seven's most pitiful member on-screen had the answer. "I don't think the Deep is really redeemable. It's a tough sell. It's not really possible. But he's also not the type of person who is sad (about this)."
Admittedly, for a show so bent on twisting comic book tropes into unsettling ways, one common thread is seeing a villain learn the error of their ways and giving the hero gig a go. However, in a world where those character labels fall into such a gray (and bloody) area, those instances are few and far between. So far, Queen Maeve has been one of the only former Vought stooges who has tried to put things right, but according to Crawford, he doesn't expect the Deep to follow suit. "He's the kind who just wants to say the right things and move on," said Crawford. "But he's still a narcissistic a****. He's never going to change." What a hero, right?