Will Ferrell's The Boys Season 4 Cameo Almost Had An Improvised Kiss
"The Boys" is filled with celebrity guest stars playing themselves, which is impressive given that the self-portrayals are rarely flattering. Season 3 gave us a montage of celebrities singing "Imagine" in a questionable attempt to comfort the masses amidst all the Soldier Boy chaos; it's an obvious parody of Gal Gadot's "Imagine" video in those early COVID days, mocking celebrities as a whole for their out-of-touch and self-important tendencies.
Will Ferrell was the latest celebrity to stop by "The Boys" for a self-deprecating cameo, showing up in season 4's "Life Among the Skeptics" as A-Train's new cast member in a shameless white savior biopic. Will Ferrell plays himself as someone with bad taste in scripts who desperately wants to be treated as a serious actor. The writers give him a small dose of self-awareness when he worries the movie he's filming might seem too much like "The Blind Side," but the director is easily able to smooth over his concerns by promising he'll finally win an Oscar.
The director, a recurring character named Adam Bourke (P.J. Byrne), originally made out with Ferrell at the end of the scene. It was an improvised joke meant as a punchline to the escalating flattery and self-delusion of both characters, but it was tragically cut from the final episode. According to showrunner Eric Kripke ( per The Wrap ):
"It was just [Bourke] psyching [Ferrell] up that he's going to be an Oscar winner, and at one point, he's like, 'You're just the best, so talented.' And then they look at each other and then they just start making out. They didn't plan it ahead of time, they just both felt it in the moment and went for it. When you have two truly unbelievable improvisers, that's the kind of stuff you get."
"There's just so much material there, that we couldn't use it all as much as I wanted to," Kripke said about the make-out scene, although he hoped that the extended scene might be available for fans to see one day: "Hopefully in the special features or deleted scenes, because they have a lot of really good s**t."
The good news is that if you're looking for satire of Hollywood directors and actors, there are plenty of other scenes "The Boys" has to offer. From the show's parody of Marvel's ambitious phase announcements to its riffing on shallow corporate pandering to minority viewers, "The Boys" truly does not have much respect for modern superhero blockbusters. Maybe that's why Kripke refuses to turn the finale into a feature film (or why this show's version of Aquaman is a fish-killing rapist).
And although it's not clear if Ferrell will ever return to the series to make out with Bourke again, it seems safe to assume that some more celebrity cameos will be making its way into season 5. From Charlize Theron popping up in season 3 to film a movie scene sanitizing Stomfront's story, to Seth Rogen stopping by for an implied buddy-cop film with the original Black Noir, it doesn't seem like "The Boys" will ever be able to resist a healthy dose of Hollywood satire. Even with Homelander taking over the world at the end of season 4, I'm sure the writers still find time to rip into the movie biz.
"The Boys" season 5 has yet to receive a premiere date. Its first four seasons are streaming on Prime Video.
