DEEP DIVE

Chace Crawford Is Just One of The Boys

The Gossip Girl guy is back on our screens.


"Charlie Says" - 2019 Tribeca Film Festival
Roy Rochlin

Ever since his Gossip Girl days ended, there’s been a serious lack of Chace Crawford on our television screens. Happily, that all changed with the premiere of The Boys, which is streaming now on Amazon Prime.

The Boys is an anti-superhero superhero show, in which the supposed good guys abuse their powers and get off scot free whenever they make mistakes. The Boys are a vigilante group of normals who come together to expose the dirty secrets of The Seven, otherwise known as the most powerful superheroes in town. When “Wee” Hughie Campbell’s (played by Jack Quaid) girlfriend is accidentally killed by a superhero named A-Train, he joins The Boys to exact revenge.

Based on a series of comics, The Boys is meant to combat the superhero franchise fatigue we’re all undoubtedly experiencing, with the announcement of a new addition to the Marvel cinematic universe (and the DC cinematic universe) happening seemingly every week. In the world of The Boys, the superheroes are celebrities, and even more influential than politicians, so they tend to get special treatment—and act like entitled jerks. Crawford plays The Deep, a member of The Seven. He has superhuman strength, and his suit bears an aquatic theme. Think of this one as a parody of Aquaman.

According to his Instagram, Crawford has been making the rounds at Comic Con (for The Boys) and the TriBeCa Film Festival (for Charlie Says, yet another Manson family film, in which he plays Tex Watson). He also had a role in the 2018 comedy-drama All About Nina— which sold at Cannes and also features Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Common. And he played a nouveau riche tycoon on the short-lived series Blood and Oil alongside Don Johnson, Rebecca Rittenhouse, and Amber Valletta.

Sadly, however, we don’t expect him to revive the role of bland Upper East Sider Nate Archibald on the forthcoming Gossip Girl update. That series will follow all-new characters, according to its creator. At least we have The Boys.

Related: Spotted: A Gossip Girl Reboot at HBO Max