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Over the course of five seasons, Antony Starr brought The Boys’ central villain Homelander to life, quickly becoming the cornerstone of the Prime Video comic adaptation. His performance created an antagonist that was manipulative and terrifying, while also being unstable and weak-willed. Starr was so good at being the fictional face of American fascism, he unwittingly convinced real-life fascists his Homelander wasn’t actually that bad of a guy.
Despite this career-defining performance, Starr was not given an Emmy nomination for his role in The Boys even once. And the reveal of this year’s Emmy nominations confirm he never will. With this final disregard, Starr will have never won an Emmy for his portrayal of Homelander.
Award snubs are subjective, and discourse around who is and isn’t nominated is as reliable as the sun rising in the East and setting in the West. Never will nominations meet what everyone wants from an awards’ show perfectly.
This snub, however, is different. The Boys has been nominated for both technical and more mainstream award categories; it has nominations for Outstanding Writing For a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series (both in 2021) as well as nominations (and wins) in Outstanding Stunt Coordination in a Drama Series, Limited or Anthology Series, or Movie and Outstanding Stunt Performance (across several different awards cycles). The Television Academy has previously been able to recognize the show’s merits in categories typically exclusionary to comic book media.
Ignoring the most recognizable and frontrunning performance in the show when the art of The Boys has been acknowledged before feels like a slap in the face. There are many reasons The Boys was able to be the flagship show for Prime Video’s television productions, including thousands of hours from behind the scenes crewmembers and writers alongside an ensemble of incredible actors. But no one doubts Antony Starr was always, for lack of a better word, the star of the show.
It is deeply unfortunate the Television Academy was unable to see this since The Boys premiered in 2019. As soon as Homelander landed on screen, killing two armed bank robbers with a Captain America attitude that was chillingly forced, The Boys fans knew they were in for a wild ride.
That’s just one example of Starr’s sinister masterclass. From the season 1 airplane scene to his death at the hands of Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), every second he was on screen made The Boys worth watching.
Even off screen, Starr’s Homelander was everywhere. Gifs of Homelander wagging his finger appeared under posts across social media platforms, and he is the frequent subject of reaction images. Starr’s extremely expressive face made his emotional reactions as Homelander both recognizable yet raw, communicating Homelander’s instability and emotional volatility. Online discourse and powerscaling (comparing power levels of fictional characters to each other) debates on online forums often center on Starr’s Homelander.
Awards aren’t the only validation an actor can get. Emmys aren’t what define a career; performances are. Audiences will always be the final arbiter of who gets remembered and who doesn’t. But awards are recognition for the complexities and thought an actor brings to their performance, and Starr will never get that specific kind of recognition for spending years portraying a real monster.
The Television Academy left a major hole in its awards this year by leaving Starr out of the nominations, but The Boys fans will always remember the fear and disgust he was able to evoke in viewers for years to come.
The post Antony Starr Will Never Be Properly Recognized for His Greatness as Homelander appeared first on Den of Geek.
