The Boys Showrunner Kripke on Firecracker/Homelander Reflecting Trump

Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: the boys

The Boys Showrunner Kripke on Firecracker/Homelander Reflecting Trump

The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke on Valorie Curry's S05E05 performance, and how the Firecracker-Homelander dynamic is a reflection of Trump.

Published Fri, 01 May 2026 14:37:08 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• The Boys creator Eric Kripke praises Valorie Curry’s devastating Firecracker performance in Season 5, Episode 5.
• The Boys pushes Firecracker to betray her former pastor, revealing the soul-crushing cost of serving Homelander.
• Kripke says Firecracker and Homelander reflect Trump-world loyalty, where followers surrender convictions and get burned.
• Firecracker’s secret with Soldier Boy seals her fate as Homelander senses her doubts and kills her despite her loyalty.

Not to sound like a broken record, but things took a darker turn for The Boys than usual as Homelander's (Antony Starr) patience has about run out in terms of how he wants the public to see him in his latest attempt to win the hearts and minds of the country. After unveiling his new God initiative, where he's having to clarify that he's not one to simply bask in the spotlight as a modern Christian prophet, he's declaring himself as the one and only God, which doesn't sit quite right with the Seven's evangelist media personality, Misty Tucker Gray, aka Firecracker (Valorie Curry). Try as she might, she goes along with the plans out of fear of Homelander's wrath. The Boys creator Eric Kripke spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about Firecracker's climactic moment and how Curry drove her performance. The following contains major spoilers.

The Boys Creator Eric Kripke on Valorie Curry's Performance as Firecracker and Political Parallels

It's not a secret that Kripke has repeated time and again how his series, based on the Garth Ennis Dynamite Comic, was written well before real-life events that seem to imitate it, like President Donald Trump sharing AI slop picture of himself as a Christ-like figure healing despite his claims it's a "doctor." During the episode "One-Shots," Misty's former pastor, Reverend Greg Dupree (W. Earl Brown) visits her at a diner, explaining how he can't get on board with the Homelander-centric "Democratic Church of America." As it flusters Firecracker, she reluctantly calls him and his church out on her Truthbomb program, painting them as pro-Starlighters.

"Valorie 100 percent made that scene what it was. That moment where she's on the news, and choosing to sell out this man who practically raised her … the script, for sure, was there as a blueprint," Kripke said. "What it basically said in the script was: 'She takes a beat. Is she really going to go through with it? She goes through with it.' But what Val did with that brought you inside of her heartbreak, you could see it killing her own soul." Things go further south for Firecracker as her casual relationship with Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) ends with guilt overwhelming her and Soldier Boy tiring of her "pillow talk" before confessing to Homelander of the relationship. That would be the last straw for Homelander, as he not only senses her doubts with the way he senses heartbeats, but her willingness to go behind his back with Soldier Boy, before ultimately killing her in spite of her repeated declaration of loyalty.

"And that was some of the best fucking acting this show has ever seen. And I agree, it's just a heartbreaking, beautiful moment. And we always knew we would have an episode where she completely gives up everything she holds dear and that was going to be the episode where Homelander kills her," Kripke said. "Because for us, it's like, everyone who's in his orbit — or everybody who is in a certain public figure's orbit — they give up every single conviction they've ever had, and then he destroys their careers. They end up just getting thrown out into the world. There's this breed of people espousing Trump's message who are more hardcore than him — the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world. [When we wrote the episode], her sort of banishment hadn't happened yet. But we were like: 'But it's only a matter of time before it does.' So we were like: Let's write that. Because, I mean, Firecracker had it coming."

For more on Kripke discussing his take on celebrity left-wing politics, with the cameo-filled scene with Seth Rogen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Will Forte, Craig Robinson, and Kumail Nanjiani, you can check out the full interview. The Boys stream Wednesdays on Prime Video.

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