The Boys season 3 pads out its superhero line-up destined for bloody mayhem, with a new addition joining the Vought ranks. Deadline reports Laurie Holden is the newest cast member, set to tackle the role of Crimson Countess.
Unlike the recent casting announcement, involving a trio of new Supes crafted for the show, Holden's character is plucked straight from the comics. Like many of The Boys' superheroes, Crimson Countess parodies a recognizable character from DC and Marvel. In this case? She's Vought's version of Marvel's Scarlet Witch.
In the Garth Ennis comic, she appears as part of a group called Payback, AKA "the Seven before the Seven." Members of the gang are name-dropped and even appear throughout season one and two of the show, so it's possible we'll see the full ensemble in season three. This superhero team-up gang is a riff on The Avengers.
The Boys season 2 ending certainly changed things at Vought, opening up the future by, well, looking to the past. Holden's Countess joins the established ranks of historical heroes making their The Boys debut. This includes Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy, who's also a member of Payback.
Showrunner Eric Kripke, who worked with Ackles on Supernatural, calls him "The very first Superhero, he'll bring so much humor, pathos, and danger to the role." A first look at the WWII-era hero signals another highlight of the show – the attention to detail on costumes, which we hope to see with the Crimson Countess. As yet there's no images of Holden in action, but fingers crossed the next set photo involves her rouge revenger.
Genre fans will recognize Holden from The Walking Dead, where she played Andrea for several seasons. She dallied further with horror, appearing in Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's The Mist and video game adaptation Silent Hill.
Elsewhere on The Boys front, there's plenty to be excited about outside of the flagship series. A spin-off is currently in the works focusing on a school of young superheroes in training, like Professor X's X-Men school but with more debauchery, and has already cast its leads.
With The Boys season 3 still shooting, we're no closer to a confirmed release date. Based on the previous seasons, we expect it to premiere late 2021. Until then, check out what’s new on Amazon Prime.
