‘The Boys’ Exclusive: Susan Heyward Talks Sister…
Everybody makes errors–even somebody with the superpower of supreme super-intelligence.
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That’s a message made clear as The Boys enters its remaining stretch and Susan Heyward unpacks the mindset behind one of its most compelling additions.
Sister Sage is a character outlined not only by her unmatched intelligence, but by the high-stakes penalties of a single miscalculation. And for Susan, the thought of taking part in the neatest particular person in the world was enough to spark dialog long before the supe ever appeared onscreen.
“There’s so much momentum culturally against intelligence being paired with Black womanhood,” Susan told BOSSIP. “Without even saying one first line of dialogue before she even shows up. People and their feelings about the idea. of a black woman being superior perhaps to them or to their loved ones in that way. So I thought it was a really smart way to immediately get people’s attention, immediately get an emotional reaction, get them to buy in, and get people curious. I know I was really, really excited.”
She also added that the function also hit close to home.
“I spoke to another journalist before this, and he talked about being bullied and having his intelligence not… valued as a kid. I’ve had a very similar experience growing up, so personally, I was also really excited to jump into the party from that point of view.”
Despite Sage’s near-omniscient mind, current episodes show she just isn’t infallible.
In a pivotal twist, Soldier Boy reverses course yet again and chooses to give Homelander the V1, the authentic Supe-creating components that will make him immune to The Boys’ supe-killing virus and successfully grants him godlike, near-immortal talents. The choice is centered around his lingering devotion to Stormfront, also recognized as Clara or Liberty, whom he references while justifying the transfer.
That second underscored a uncommon blind spot for Sage, who, despite anticipating almost every consequence, underestimates the emotional volatility driving the choice.
That miscalculation lands within a bigger arc centered on energy and its pull.
After becoming a member of The Seven, Sage is finally supplied one thing she has long been denied: affect, but now it’s hanging on by a thread.
“Yes. Without mincing words,” Susan said to BOSSIP when requested if the ability turns into intoxicating. “Yeah, I think. Homelander knew exactly what to offer her in her apartment. I’m going to listen to you. I’m going to give you power. It’s very, very seductive. And there’s, I think, a lot of pressure to hope that she’s going to resist that seduction. But I think it’s very, very human to not be able to resist.”
One of the season’s most putting dynamics is Sage’s lack of worry when it comes to Homelander, a character who usually evokes terror.
“Well, I think a lot of things,” Susan explained. “I really like listening to [actress] Valorie Curry, speak about [the supe] Firecracker because she talks about her love and her perception in Homelander erasing worry.”
“I feel Sage comes from the precise reverse direction. I feel he’s a traditional narcissist. He’s fairly predictable. He does have laser eyes connected. So that’s new and thrilling for her. But I feel she is aware of his mindset. She is aware of form of how he’s going to come at her.”
Susan added,
“I think a lot of people who deal with patriarchy and deal with systems that oppress them, you know the oppressor sometimes more than they know themselves. You know what’s coming.”
On top of that, Susan factors out that Sage fairly frankly doesn’t have a lot to lose, so she’s not afraid to take greater dangers than most when it comes to the psychopathic, narcissistic, and extraordinarily highly effective chief of The Seven.
“I feel one of the tragedies of Sage is that she hasn’t essentially constructed a life that she’s perhaps unhappy to lose,” said Susan.
“When we discover her, she’s fairly lonely. She’s fairly remoted. She doesn’t have any hate or grand mission just like the boys. So to be surrounded by somebody whose habits is form of predictable, how it’s going to go. You most likely know how it’s going to end and you don’t really feel the loss of life. I feel it places her in a place of, okay, if I die today, okay. If I die 30 days from now. Okay, too.”
Sage’s choice to reveal more of her long-term plan, including her so-called part two strategy, also indicators a shift in how she operates; one that may show to be deadly.
Source: Ernesto Ruscio / Getty
“I like the way you think,” Susan said. “I think two reasons. One, I was just really excited as an actor. I was really excited as an actor to present this point of view because there are people out there who really do believe that they’re just prepared for the fall of society. And I think it was a really nice surprise to hear that point of view from someone like Sage.”
She added,
“And then on the other hand, I think her whole through line has been about how she works independently. She’s secret. She works alone. And the main theme of the show is that the power of working together is what ends fascism. The power of working together is what takes too much power from one person’s hand. So she’s been on this journey of being forced to figure out what it’s like to share and reveal things and then have to work people and then need people. And it’s very strange for her.”
As the collection approaches its conclusion, Susan is already reflecting on what she’s going to miss most.
“I’ll miss how unapologetically supe-ist she is,” she told BOSSIP.
She continued,
“You know, there was that moment in the series, which is so powerful, when Homelander finally admits, he’s like, I’m better and better than all of you, and I think there is something really intoxicating about feeling better than other people. I think it’s, there’s something really playful about the way Sage does it. She’s very derisive and dismissive. It’s a terrible way to approach life. I do not suggest it, but playing it as an actor has been really, really fun to go with it.”
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