‘The Boys’: Laz Alonso on MM’s Revenge on Soldier Boy & Addressing Family Trauma
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Sometimes Going Rogue Pays Off
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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Boys Season 3 finale, “The Instant White-Hot Wild.”]
The Boys has wrapped its wildest chapter yet as Season 3 comes to a close at Prime Video, and there were plenty of thrills and surprises in the pivotal finale installment, “The Instant White-Hot Wild.”
Along with setting up one of the show’s most epic battles to date, it also offered some much-needed closure for Laz Alonso‘s Mother’s Milk who finally got to exact revenge on Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) for killing some of his family in the past. The “moral compass” of the show’s titular vigilante group also had the opportunity to get candid with his daughter Janine (Liyou Abere) about their family’s past in order to try and protect her from the disappointing reality of the Supes she’s come to admire under step-dad Todd’s (Matthew Gorman) tutelage.
Below, Alonso reflects on MM’s Season 3 journey, his revenge against Soldier Boy, and tapping into his character’s vulnerable side for the sake of family. Plus, find out what the actor hopes to address in the show’s Season 4 return.
(Credit: Prime Video)
Mother’s Milk had to show a lot of restraint this season as the moral compass of the Boys. Was that ever frustrating as a performer or an exciting challenge?
Laz Alonso: Yeah, I think that knowing the assignment is a big part of what we’re doing, especially when we’re on the side of The Boys. A big part of our message is restraint. Although we’re technically the good guys, if we tread the line a little too close, then we can very easily become what we’re criticizing. And so, that was the biggest challenge this season, MM being the moral center for The Boys, now his morality is being tested because now he’s facing someone who goes way back in his life.
Now it becomes personal. How easy is it to be moral when it affects you deeply? It’s not just society. It’s something that’s personally affected your life and your family. And so I feel like that test was his biggest challenge as a character this season.
MM had the chance to finally open up to his daughter about his past with Supes and how Soldier Boy murdered some of his family. Will those stories be enough to sway her outlook when she’s living in Todd’s proximity?
I think the main thing with MM this season is that he has fought very hard to hide his past and family’s history from his daughter. He’s tried to protect her from the trauma that he faced because he is so afraid of passing on generational trauma to her. So what he’s trying to do is shield her from the truth. And what he’s not understanding is that she has to know where she came from.
(Credit: Prime Video)
She has to know that he has OCD. She has to know all these things that he tries to protect her from and hide from her. And in the process of him trying to overly control what he shares with her, it’s left her susceptible to being groomed by this [Homelander] cult-like follower who Todd ends up becoming. It’s not a “cult” on paper, but based on following someone with that little moral compass, it really is a cult.
This season, MM sought revenge against Soldier Boy. Is he satisfied with the way the season concluded even if the original Supe didn’t die?
I think it is satisfying because MM has the opportunity to avenge his family. He has the opportunity to participate in the taking down of someone. There’s something cathartic about seeing someone who’s been wronged and carried that inside for so many years, finally let it out. And he lets it out to Starlight when he tells her about his past. And then he lets it out in the season finale when he finally gets to go hand in hand with a Supe that really defined MM’s life. Who knows what MM would’ve been had that incident not happened with his grandfather and family? So, regardless of what happened to Soldier Boy, I think even if it’s a temporary victory, there is satisfaction in thwarting evil.
The finale included an epic fight sequence between the Boys, Homelander (Antony Starr), Maeve (Dominique McElligott), and Soldier Boy. What was it like putting that together?
Tons and tons and tons of rehearsals. We probably rehearsed more in Season 3 than we did in Season 1 and 2 combined.
(Credit: Prime Video)
Wow, really? That’s intense.
Yeah. We got a new stunt choreographer who’s amazing. And he really upped the stakes and ante for us as players and as actors in this piece. Obviously, safety is very important, but we also experience a tremendous amount of discovery during these choreographies. During these rehearsals, we find beats in the script that might have been missing that need to be there. And you don’t know that it’s missing until you physicalize that movement.
Once we put it on camera, the story is told better. For example, the scene where MM hits Butcher (Karl Urban) across the face with a bat [in “Herogasm,”], originally, the way it was written, MM grabs a bat and just starts wailing on Butcher. And so what we did not acknowledge is that MM knew Butcher was on V at that point. So if MM just grabs a bat and hits Butcher with it without knowing he’s on V, it’s attempted murder. And so Karl and I, when we were rehearsing that scene with the stunt coordinators, we realized, “Hey, we need an extra beat here.” And that’s where we came in with the beat where MM tries to pass him, and Butcher just puts up one hand and stops him.
Any other time, MM would just burl through Butcher and keep walking. He can’t stop MM. But when Butcher puts that one hand [on MM’s chest], it gives him the license to do that without it being attempted murder of one of his best friends.
Speaking of Butcher, he and MM weren’t on the greatest of terms this season. Following Butcher’s devastating diagnosis at the end of the finale, has the dust settled between them, or is there further reconciliation to be made?
I think there’s a lack of trust there. Butcher definitely broke MM’s trust by partnering up with Soldier Boy and doing it behind his back. I think that’s something that has to be addressed in Season 4, because regardless of why you were doing something, for you to go to that extreme and keep it from someone who is … We’re bandmates. We’re in this together, and now you’re cutting side deals with the enemy, my personal enemy, to accomplish a personal goal. Are you really doing that on behalf of the team? Are you doing it for the mission, or are you doing it for your own personal revenge? And I think those are areas that now are going to test how close we are.
And while Soldier Boy had been MM’s big adversary this season, anyone that seems to be against the Supe is on Homelander’s radar. Should MM keep special watch over his back for that reason?
We’re enemies of the Supes, all of us. So we’re all on a 24-hour watching our backs and being threatened by them. But I think this season now, the Supes are now on a 24-hour watching their backs and threatened by us. There’s a symbiotic kind of threat level there that has been established. There is a definitive line in the sand now. In Season 1, we were underground. They didn’t really know who we were. In Season 2, we were above ground, but we didn’t really pose a physical threat to their lives. Now we do. So I think that there’s a definite mano a mano type of war declaration.
The Boys, Season 3, Streaming Now, Prime Video
