The latest season of The Boys introduced us to a couple of new superhero characters, including Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), the smartest person in the world; and Firecracker (Valorie Curry), a nationalist who's skilled at using propaganda to fire up fans of the sociopathic superhero Homelander so that when he installs himself as emperor of the world or whatever his plan is, they'll all go along with it.
Homelander's plan is fairly simple: supe supremacy. Sister Sage is helping him achieve it, although there's a question about whether she actually believes it. When Homelander asked her why she was helping him, she replied that she simply wanted to see if she was smart enough to put these complicated plans into motion. So far, so good.
"I have to admit, I go back and forth, because part of the fun of Sage is you never really quite know what her genuine ideals are, and there’s definitely a part of me that hopes, for Season 5, we find out that it’s all been an act, and she actually is egalitarian and wants to protect humanity, as well," Susan Heyward told TVLine. "But it’s also really fun to get a different supremacist ideology, even a fictional one, because in the real world, the supremacist ideologies are pretty depressing to listen to. So at least this one is fake and can give us some entertainment."
So not even the actor knows what Sage's endgame is, but she's better that it's not the same as Homelander's. "I think Sage is the one who’s thinking on a higher level that she’s taking him to. So I would not lean towards their endgame being the same because she’s the one who’s kind of introducing him to a new landscape."
"In a very Sage-like way, I have all of these different versions in my head. I have the version in my head where she goes for world domination. I have the version in my head where she flips and shows herself to be a champion of humanity, and she’s been just positioning herself to protect humanity this whole time. I have a version in my head where she’s a complete agent of chaos and just likes to keep pushing the table over. All of those sound fun to me as an actress. I’m open to all of them. But the writers’ room is open right now. I will find out probably when I arrive to set, and things will probably change again then. So I guess the answer to your question is, I hope it will reflect the world back to itself, clearly, and I know it’s going to be fun to play. I’m grateful."
Valorie Curry wants Firecracker to die, and she wants Sister Sage to do it
It's easier to suss out Firecracker's endgame: be on the winning side, which to her means Homelander's side. Actor Valorie Curry has a very specific wish for her character: "I hope she dies," Curry told The Hollywood Reporter. "She has it coming from many people. She's awful. She's horrible. I hope she dies. I hope it's not because of the meds, because that seems too easy."
Moreover, she knows who she wants to do the deed: "It should be Sage, right? It should be Sage, and then she should survive and have a spinoff. I hope she dies."
Before The Boys, Susan Heyward and Valorie Curry actually worked together on a show called The Following, and if there's anything that makes a death scene better, it's an established working relationship. We'll see if that comes to pass when the fifth and final season of The Boys airs on Amazon Prime Video, likely sometime in 2026.
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