The Boys season 2 returned with a bang – and with a moment that ranks up there with one of the most uncomfortable, absurd scenes in the show’s short history.
Patton Oswalt had the honour of voicing the character who played a pivotal role in the Deep’s reawakening, and The Boys creator Eric Kripke has revealed why it was the right fit.
Spoilers for The Boys season 2, episode 2 follow...
If you’ve watched The Boys’ second episode, you’ll likely already be scarred for life by Deep’s duet with his own talking gills, courtesy of a Church of the Collective drug trip.
The gills, voiced by Patton Oswalt, are a far cry from his previous voice acting credits, including Ratatouille and various other Disney movies. But, for Kripke, that’s why it was such an inspired choice.
“I took a certain perverse pleasure that the guy who was the lead voice in Ratatouille comes in to voice the Deep’s mangina,” Kripke told Collider. “I mean the guy who was in the Secret Life of Pets 2, a real evergreen superstar when it comes to animated voices. The idea of him being this animated male vagina on this guy’s chest, it was really hilarious to me, man.”
Speaking with GamesRadar+ recently, Chace Crawford – who plays the Deep – also spoke about filming the scene. "They told me that they’d gotten [Patton] for that," he said. "But he hadn’t recorded his stuff yet, so I think the director was reading – or someone was just reading – the lines.
"They did have a guy there who was like a singer. He was singing. He was the only one that was singing the actual gills part, because we had to meld our voices. So it was really bizarre in between takes. I was like, 'Am I in key, man? Let’s rehearse it real quick.' So he was trying to keep me in key, and it was all sorts weird. I wanted to make it heart-breaking and vulnerable as well. I think, after seeing it, for better or worse, it worked out. It was definitely one of the stranger things I’ve ever had to do."
The Boys, meanwhile, is set to return for its fourth episode this week after dropping its first batch of episodes on September 4. For more on the change, check out The Boys season 2 release schedule.
