The College Spinoff Finally Found a Villain Worthy of Its Predecessor
The Boys features some of television’s most memorable antagonists. Whether it’s the actor’s twisted version on Captain America named Soldier Boy or the supremacist supe Stormfront, these figures became so popular that they are even getting a prequel show. At the same time, Anthony Starr’s performance of Homelander is consistently the best part of the series. That’s why the spinoff premiered focusing on The Boys’ university-set extension, the big question remained: would it be able to introduce an antagonist on par with the main series?
Season 1 Effectively Avoided This Challenge
Godolkin University Dean Indira Shetty (portrayed by the actress) and her quest to eliminate everyone with superpowers—inspired by a personal tragedy linked to the notorious supe—made her seem more like a member of the show’s namesake vigilantes rather than a genuinely evil antagonist. However in season 2, Gen V co-showrunner the showrunner turned to a performer with a lot of experience playing disturbing roles: Hamish Linklater, known for Midnight Mass and the FX series, now portraying Shetty’s replacement, Dean Cipher.
“We were so happy with his casting. We knew we needed a character that seemed different than the previous dean,” the showrunner explained. “Our goal was somebody who kept the students guessing while remaining uncertain. Hamish excels in this. It’s like, I know that he’s villainous. I don’t know why you’re a bad guy. His agenda what your agenda is. He’s simply eerie.”
Linklater’s Role Fully Embodying the Moniker Cipher
No one understands what Dean Cipher’s powers are or his origins. In one especially odd scene from the show this season, he makes a disgusting-looking health drink while chatting to Godolkin student Cate Dunlap (the actress) before nearly putting Cate’s hand in a blender when she tries to employ her psychic abilities on him.
The dean turns the students against each other, convincing them that their self-worth depends on their abilities, bribing them for compliance with his plans, and menacing them with public shame or confinement for disobedience. He does it all with relentless smugness, easily seeing through every effort to deceive him while he skillfully controls the would-be heroes to advance his secret goals.
As Godolkin’s the dean, Cipher Emphasizes Challenging the Top Students
He aims to fully unlock their powers and release their full potential. During the debut of his “Supe Enhancement Class,” he makes the class battle Vikor, a brutal hammer-wielding supe reminiscent of an Asgardian warrior, a character The Boys actor Karl Urban played in the Marvel film. Much like the infamous supe pushed his child off a roof to see if his powers would manifest, the dean’s belief holds that the students must rise to the challenge or be deemed worth his time to begin with.
Like Homelander, Cipher Is Convinced Supes Are Inherently Superior Normal People
He’s very explicit regarding his views during his inaugural address to Godolkin students in the new season, informing an enthusiastic audience that humans are untrustworthy and “those who betray their kind” such as Starlight, now serving as the symbol for resistance against Homelander’s rule. This take on identity politics forms a central theme of the series this season, and the actor is optimistic that fans will receive it seriously.
“My wish is it is interpreted as relevant,” he says. “The notion that certain people are better than others belongs within fiction and the past. It should not be in our newspapers.”
Sinister Speeches Have Become One of Linklater’s Signatures
Ever since his role questioning mutants in Noah Hawley’s 2017 edgy Marvel series Legion, these moments have defined his work. The spinoff continues this trend. He dominates every scene he makes while he teaches students about their flaws and evades inquiries about his own background.
“I think I get hired since they assume that I’m good at learning lines and I’m really not. It’s a challenge and my career feels like torture,” he says. “Why don’t they assign me the strong, silent type instead of a talkative, elusive character?”
The Actor Had Ample Experience Delivering Speeches in his role as a priest for the creator’s 2021 horror miniseries of the same name
Although he jokes about the memorization, the actor is eager to collaborate again in the future.
“I collaborated on one project. It’s surprising he’s broken his rule of always using recurring actors repeatedly just for me,” he mentioned. “His writing are brilliant. That company of actors is spectacular. Why won’t he call me back?”
He humorously suggests that his recurring type as the villain is due to “protagonist roles had been taken,” but he says he loves the chance to represent for a series’ message.
“You want to be in projects that utilize storytelling to address important issues,” he says. “In my view Midnight Mass achieved this by exploring talking about faith and dependency and so many other human flaws. [This series] takes hold of current events forcefully and declares ‘This is relevant of this story too, particularly for the youth’ and I think that’s just thrilling.”
The series is streaming on Prime Video, and new installments premiering each week through the end of October.
