The Boys star Dominique McElligott on Queen Maeve’s alliance with Starlight

How will Maeve and Starlight’s relationship develop in the third season of The Boys? Star Dominique McElligott lays it out.

The season 2 finale of The Boys aired on Amazon Prime Video earlier this month, and I’m still not over it. The second season started a little slow, but boy did it go out with a bang. I recommend The Boys to people all the time, and typically when I do, I tell them that the show is like if the Avengers all had god complexes.

I love Marvel movies as much as the next girl, but I think The Boys paints a more realistic picture of what our world would look like with superheroes. I have to give it up for the writers, who manage to address real-life issues like racism, sexual assault, bigotry, and the harmful effects of capitalism all while telling a story about costumed would-be crime-fighters.

One aspect of season 2 that I enjoyed was Vought’s “Girls Get It Done” campaign, which started off as a tired marketing ploy featuring the female members of the Seven, the world’s premiere superhero team. It paid off in the final episode, because I started cheering in my living room when Queen Maeve, Starlight, and Kimiko teamed up to kick the snot out of Nazi supervillain Stormfront.

Queen Maeve is played wonderfully by Dominique McElligott, who talked about Maeve and Starlight’s new partnership to The Wrap. “I think with Maeve, she’s dealing with her own stuff,” McElligott said. “When she sees Starlight, in Season 1 especially, Starlight was a little like a damsel in distress and Maeve was there saying, ‘Come on, pull yourself together.’ And it’s a little one-sided in that Maeve is always trying to help Starlight in some way. She’s saving her or giving her advice. So it’s essentially one-sided, which is probably why Maeve is a little short with Starlight at times.”

"I mean, I don’t even remember Starlight saying thank you. It doesn’t seem to be in her vocabulary. Going forward, I think that Maeve is essentially a really decent person. She’s always going to turn up when she’s needed. She’s not going to let somebody die on her watch if she can help it. And she’s always going to be there, but the superficial niceties that probably Starlight is expecting from her will never probably be a part of the equation for them. So I don’t see a friendship, because I don’t think it’s two-sided."

To be honest, she has a point there. It wouldn’t kill you to say “thank you” once in a while, Starlight!

Queen Maeve and Starlight seemed to come to a tentative understanding in season 2. I wouldn’t call them friends, but they have definitely moved past their contentious relationship from season 1. The scene where Maeve saved Starlight from Black Noir was a particular favorite of mine. The idea that someone with superhuman strength and agility can be taken out with an Almond Joy was so great.

McElligott also talked about Queen Maeve to Entertainment Weekly, explaining how she became the jaded woman we meet in the first season. “[I]t’s a really tough situation for Maeve because she’s dealing with basically being bullied by Homelander and on top of that bullying, her sexuality is being hidden, and her identity and her authenticity are being suppressed. So over time, she becomes quite a jaded version of herself. And I think Homelander plays a huge role in that, given that he’s this narcissistic sociopath.”

But, in the season 2 finale, Maeve stands up to Homelander, blackmailing him into leaving her and her girlfriend alone. McElligott agrees that this was a breakthrough for the character. “And that’s why for Maeve going forward, anything could happen. I think it’s really encouraging her to take action and there’s no going back now. I think for Maeve, because Homelander is such a threat, there’s no going back. She’s dealing with a narcissistic sociopath, so good luck to her. I have no idea what’s going to happen.”

Neither do we, but we can’t wait to find out. Season 3 can’t come fast enough.

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