Chace Crawford on ‘The Boys’ Unrelentingly Satirical & Thoroughly Gruesome Run

Chace Crawford joined The Rich Eisen Show to mark the end of an era. The Boys is heading into its fifth and final season on Prime Video, and the actor who plays The Deep is preparing to say goodbye to a show that's run five seasons across seven years.

"I'm going to miss it too, to be honest," Crawford said. "Yeah, the writing. And this year too, they're really doing such a good job with landing the plane."

The show was never explained to him in detail. Crawford remembers reading the breakdown in an email and seeing Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg attached. The pitch, as he understood it, was Marvel if Marvel were real. Superheroes as celebrities. Contracted to different cities. Holding a mirror up to society.

He auditioned with two scenes. One was The Deep in a therapist's office talking about his only friend being a local lobster. The other was a confrontation with Starlight. He read the pilot and remembers thinking the show was dark and satirical and a big swing. His first reaction was wondering whether Amazon would actually green-light it for a full series.

They did. Eight episodes. Crawford described the tonal shifts as weird and remembers asking himself whether audiences would connect.

They did that too.

Rich confessed he came to the show late, the same way he eventually came to Breaking Bad years ago. The pitch he got from his producer Chris was direct. Superheroes with no conscience. About themselves. Wild.

Rich says no show makes him say "holy S" out loud more than this one. He cited the famously graphic scene involving Jack Quaid's character and a train, and asked Crawford whether he ever opens a script and pushes back.

"Oh god, yeah," Crawford said. "Every year I'm like, oh god, we did the hard thing. I'm good now. Now it's off the easy stuff."

The season three turning point was the moment Crawford had to start asking what camera angles would be used. And whether he needed to call his mom.

The answer to the mom question was yes. Crawford said there was a stretch where he told his mother to fast-forward through episode three of season three. He noted his family will sometimes just skip to his stuff.

Crawford also dug into what makes his character work. The Deep, he said, lands in the space between Aquaman and Zoolander. A sex addict with no moral compass. A celebrity superhero who cares more about his image than the people he saves.

Much of the fun, Crawford said, came from the in-world commercials. The Deep is also a D-list actor doing Lifetime movies and soy sauce ads. Amazon's marketing team played into all of it.

Crawford gave Anthony Starr, who plays Homelander, his flowers. He talked about Starr's audition tape from New Zealand, his under-the-radar work on Banshee, and his belief that Starr should have gotten more awards-season love. He pointed to the famous Homelander meme where the character realizes his awfulness is being celebrated and slowly starts smiling.

"You can use them for anything," Crawford said of the show's memes. They circulate constantly in his group texts. Even, Rich joked, the one with his brother-in-law Tony Romo.