The secret’s out: The Boys is a satire that lives to skewer the sorts of right-wing nightmares that unfortunately are part of our real world these days. The current fourth season’s election plot has been a highly fertile one for the show’s signature sense of humor, with one new character in particular making a big impression: hate-spewing podcaster Firecracker, played by Valorie Curry.
While The Boys is full of exaggerated characters—beyond the core cast, another big example is the neo-Nazi Stormfront, introduced in season two and played by Aya Cash—Firecracker is subversive on multiple levels. For one thing, the actor behind Firecracker is one of the very things the conspiracy theory-obsessed character rails against: a member of the LGBTQIA community.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Curry explained what drew her to the role. “It sounds so gross to say, but I really connected with her right off the bat,” despite the fact that Firecracker is “so vocally anti-trans and homophobic.” Curry figured “it should be somebody from the community who’s getting to make a clown out of her. So there isn’t any ambiguity.”
What’s more, “As an actor, our first job isn’t to judge our characters,” Curry explained, and said fans of The Boys may soon learn more about what drives Firecracker’s skewed point of view. It goes back to her past, and now “she’s someone who believes she’s been marginalized.”
The Boys season four is now streaming on Prime Video.
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