The Boys stars preview season 3's musical: ' Dancing With the Stars ain't got s--- on us'
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Karen Fukuhara never thought she would ever get the opportunity to be the lead in a musical. Way before starring as the silent-but-deadly Kimiko on The Boys, she performed in theater productions throughout high school but suffered debilitating stage fright. Even in college when she would scat the "doo-wop" parts in the back row of her a cappella group, the nerves would return on stage. Add in her acute awareness of the lack of opportunities for Asian American actors in the theater space at the time and it just didn't seem like this was a feasible career route for her.
It's why filming The Boys season 3 was such a surreal experience for her. Fukuhara confirms that Kimiko is getting a full-on musical with Tomer Capone's Frenchie, as shown in EW's exclusive photo below of the sequence. It feels like a pretty stark departure for the Emmy-nominated show that typically gives us disemboweled whales and mutant supe penises, but Fukuhara is still wrapped up in the moment.
"I was standing in the middle of the set as, essentially, the lead character," she remembers of filming. "I never thought my dream would come to life."
Season 2, which concluded on Amazon Prime Video in October 2020, left the members of the supe-fighting Boys gang splintered. Hughie (Jack Quaid) took a position with Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) in the newly launched Office of Supe Affairs, as a much more by-the-book way of keeping out-of-control supes in check. Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso) went back to his family.
For Frenchie, Capone says, "We find Serge feeling he has legitimacy. That's all under the surface. Quickly, he has to deal with his inner demons about what role he plays in the Boys group and what or who for. When things get out of hand, the answers will confront him from all sides that will take him for a steep 'rollercoaster' ride.
At the same time, he decides to show Kimiko everything she's been missing in life. That includes musicals.
Season 3 begins with a time jump, and Fukuhara promises viewers will see what Kimiko has been getting up to with Frenchie. "She is finally able to go out and discover what her likes, dislikes, hobbies are. Who is she at the core as a normal girl?" she explains. "You'll see in season 3 what she chose to do in the past year or so, getting a taste test of what life is like to be normal. It's fantastic for her. She doesn't have to just be about killing and violence."
Amazon Studios Tomer Capone's Frenchie and Karen Fukuhara's Kimiko get a musical sequence in 'The Boys' season 3.
As far as the musical moment, that was something showrunner Eric Kripke has been wanting to do since season 2. With everything going on between Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) driving a speeding boat straight through a CG whale and all, things got too crazy to fit one in. Season 3 rectifies that.
Fukuhara and Capone embraced the challenge. She created her own playlist, including Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain," while they both consumed the classics, from Fred Astaire to Judy Garland. Capone says choreographer Amy Wright gave them "a lot of room to create ourselves in character," while drilling the fundamentals, like tap.
"In my private life I do love to move and express my rhythm, but I'm not sure you can call it dancing," Capone says. "But if it's in the script, I'll go for it."
Even after executing moves like her season 2 "Black Widow flip," Fukuhara feels dancing was the hardest part for her in season 3. "I am not used to it," she says. "If you don't know the basic moves, you can't do the choreography. It's so difficult."
Still, Capone assures us, "Dancing With the Stars ain't got s--- on us."
The Boys season 3 will premiere its first three episodes this June 3, followed by a weekly release every Friday.
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