Jack Quaid

The kind of real you can’t hide, no matter how hard you try. Growing up around Hollywood, Jack has such a great finger on the pulse of pop culture, but even more so on humanity. The actor has made a bang in the fandom world with his starring role on Amazon Prime’s The Boys, based on the comic book series, bringing that ultra-affable and down-to-earth personality to the character of Hughie. The Boys is a show about superheroes, but with a twist: They’re all corrupt. Hughie, who Q doesn’t have any powers himself, joins a vigilante team of fellow mortals that fights back against the “supes.” Jack can sell you on the premise much better than we can. The show has one of the best opening sequences we’ve seen in a long time, which instantly drags you into this crazy world. What surprised us most is how similar Jack’s sense of humor is to Hughie’s. But what makes it more admirable is how he doesn’t ever seem to know he’s that funny. His keen comedic instincts and quick

wit are absolutely natural, fitting in Jack with the wry tone of The Boys. He also gifts us with impressions of his parents, Dennis Quaid and Meg Quaid is Ryan. Jack is a self-proclaimed nerd who is just as bummed as we are about such a the lack of in-person Comic Cons this year. A comic book fan, himself, he’s itching to play a character with real dude actual superpowers. Personally, we wouldn’t mind if Marvel chose to cast him as Reed Richards in their planned upcoming Fantastic Four project. We get to talking about his brand new show, Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated comedy which takes place circa Next Generation (the series is named after a TNG episode of the same name), and try to snag a few plot points for season 2 of The Boys. We got some nice teases. He fills us in on his love for Back to the Future and Jaws, how Billy Joel 52 I |Holiday Special Edition 2021 made his way into a pivotal scene in The Boys, and what it’s like being raised by two megastars. This guy is so easy to talk to, which helped make this interview so much fun. We’re excited to help you get to know a little more about Jack Quaid. Jack Quaid/Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP/The Boys/Amazon/

spoiler

The Boys is an amazing series. Amazon knocked it out of the park. What’s your experience like on that show? JACK QUAID

Oh man! It’s just been one of the greatest creative experiences of my life. First of all, I grew up as just a huge nerd. I’ve always been a huge superhero fan. Growing up, they came out with the volumes where they collect all the earlier issues. Like an omnibus. And I just wanted to be a part of a [superhero] project, and the fact that this thing came along, which is so subversive and so cool and so not what you would traditionally expect from a superhero project, it just blew my mind. When I found out I got the part, I think I was happy for about 6 months straight. It just kept me going. The project has been so amazing to work on. The entire cast are incredibly talented and incredibly nice people. We’ve just formed this little family shooting in Toronto. Season two was like coming back to summer camp to see all your old friends again. I think it’s better than season one. Obviously, I’m the most biased person ever, but I think we’ve gotten even deeper with the characters. You find out what makes them tick. We still have those crazy moments that people—their jaws are gonna be on the floor. I guarantee you for this season your jaw is gonna hit the Earth’s core. It’s so insane.

Kwith you, but I’m glad you saw it [laughs]. And I think you know what I’m talking about. spoiler Yes, they told me they’d cut my fingers off if I said anything. JACK QUAID That’s how we run things! People are losin’ fingers! spoiler A lot of people are intrigued with you, both off and on screen, which is very rare these days. Every now and then when I hear you talk, your dad’s voice comes across. I’m the biggest fan of your dad, and of course I love your mom as well. I know it’s cheesy, but how was it like growing up in a household with Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan? JACK QUAID It’s really weird because, to me, as a kid, I didn’t really think anything of it. I think it was only until I got a little bit older where I started to realize like, “Okay, my situation is slightly different than the norm.” Because when I was a very, very, very little kid, what they did was just like any other job to me. And then once I got to around 4-years-old, I was like, “Oh, they like, do this thing and everyone sees

spoiler

I was able to see a screener for part of season two, it’s fabulous. Season one rocked, but season two kicks butt and I was like, “Ugh! Now I gotta wait to watch the rest.” JACK QUAID

Yeah, I’m so excited. I can’t discuss anything specific

them do it.” Everybody knows that they do this occupation. So, to me, it wasn’t that much different than growing up anywhere else, but later I was like, “It very much was.” But it was great! I really can’t complain about anything. My parents are good at what they do and were able to put food on the table. But in terms of my dad’s voice, I feel like, if I just kinda go a little bit deeper, I feel like I can kinda do, like, “Ah! Hey everybody!” I can kinda do a Dennis Quaid, but my mom’s voice is slightly different. My impression of my mom is her going to my friend Marty’s art show and being really impressed by everything. It’s just like, “Marty! Oh my God!” I don’t know if that’s good, but that’s my impression of her. I love them both and it was great growing up with them.

spoiler

So you learned early on, “My house is not normal. My mom is America’s sweetheart and my dad is the coolest dude in the universe.” Did your friends start bringing it up? Or was it your friends’ parents? JACK QUAID

It was interesting. The one odd part is, sometimes I would have my friends in my class try to be friends with me because of who my parents were. And it was just like, “Wait, this is weird. You don’t really like me for me. You’re sixyears-old and trying to get in good with my parents.” Which is so odd. So that was kind of my first crash course in that. And then I just got very good at knowing who was genuinely my friend. I call it my BS detector.

spoiler

I always tell people, regardless of who your mom and dad are, you still have to grind in Hollywood. It’s not easy. You still have to be good at what you do. Do you think having them as your parents opened doors? JACK QUAID

It probably has opened doors for me and I don’t even realize it has. I’m not gonna try to pretend that any kind of privilege doesn’t exist. However, what I’ve experienced has mostly been people assuming I’m going to be a prick when I enter a room because I am a son of famous people. I remember I was going into this audition once and the casting director was like, “Oh, that was actually, like, really good!” And I was like, “Oh! Thank you!” She was like, “I thought you’d come in here and expect it all to be handed to you and just be a jerk.” And I was like, “No, no, I work hard and I want this, but okay.” I was like, “Uh, I’m not a jerk,” but I don’t wanna hafta say that, because that just seems like a jerky thing to say. I can tell when someone is a really cool person. You just come across as this very cool dude and that’s why the world is loving you. JACK QUAID

Thank you! That means a lot.

spoiler

You’ve been on some pretty cool film projects. Are there any celebrities that you’ve worked with that you got starstruck with? JACK QUAID

The Rock on Rampage. I remember when I first saw him—and this doesn’t happen to me a lot, but when it does it’s very real—but seeing him in real life was like, “You’re watching a screen right now.” Because I was just so used to him being on a movie screen or on my TV, and I had never actually met him in real life. So it was just this weird, “Is this real? Or am I watching a movie that I’m in right now?” It was just very strange. I remember being super awkward around him initially because I didn’t know what to say [laughs]. I dunno, I was just completely and utterly starstruck. Creedence Clearwater Revival/Craft Recordings/The Boys/Amazon/

JACK QUAID

spoiler Is he as big in person? JACK QUAIDCHe’s huge! I’m tall, but I don’t have the discipline and the muscles that he does. And I think he’s also taller than me too. But it was like watching Superman walk into the room. Like, the real life Superman that everyone told you doesn’t exist, but actually does exist, walk into the room. That was the feeling seeing him for the first time. And also, on The Boys, Simon Pegg plays my dad, which is insane. He is genuinely my hero. I think he’s such a great actor. I love the fact that he’s written

most of the movies that have kinda brought him to where he is now. He’s a guy who does it all and couldn’t be a nicer, more affable, kinder guy. He’s the absolute best. I know that’s no surprise. But that’s another one where I was like, “Oh, this is just awesome!” spoiler He’s just one of those people where you just want to hug him. JACK QUAID And I did! Constantly. I didn’t want to bother him, but I did want to hug him a lot. spoiler You think he wants to hug you back? JACK QUAID Yeah, maybe. I dunno if he was thinking, “The son of Dennis Quaid is hugging me! What a day!” But he was just the best. It was a dream come true getting to work with him. Yeah. What got me into acting was actually, I did a play in middle school. The thing is, with my parents as actors, it was like proof that it was possible. Like, seeing them do their job and be good at it and be successful. It was never a case of my parents being like, “Why would you go into acting? That doesn’t seem practical.” They can’t say that because they’re doing it themselves. The proof that it could be done was there. But I think I got my first laugh on stage when I was like, 13, and I was like, “Oh man, this is great!” And also I formed relationships with other kids and became kind of a theater nerd, and a lot of the friendships I made on that play when I was 13 are still friends of mine today. The community, the joy of doing it was amazing. spoiler Would you ever do a movie with your parents? JACK QUAID Yes, I absolutely would do a movie with my parents. I think it just has to be the right project, but I’m not closed off to that idea at all. In fact, I did kinda work with my mom already. She directed a small independent movie that I was in a few years ago called Ithaca. And I was actually an extra in The Alamo, which had my dad in it. So I kinda worked with them in the past, but if something great comes up in the future, I wouldn’t be opposed to it at all.

spoiler

spoiler

Would you ever do a reboot of any of your dad’s movies? JACK QUAID

Oh man, I’m gonna say no. Only because I think, obviously he nailed K and Hughie in the pilot when Butcher is trying to convince Hughie to go into the Seven tower. I mean, I was so nervous. Just because it was my first day and this was a big project and I didn’t wanna screw anything up. I didn’t wanna be fired and recast within the first week [laughs]. So I remember we were doing the scene—and this is what clued me in that this project was gonna be awesome—I’m doing the scene and I was encouraged by our amazing pilot director, Dan Trachtenberg, who did 10 Cloverfield Lane, he said, “Just go ahead and improvise anytime you want. If it doesn’t work, whatever, but if it works, we’ll use it.” So I improvised this thing about how Hughie’s favorite musician is James Taylor, so it means he shouldn’t be good at infiltrating a tower. And [showrunner] Eric Kripke came out and was like, “That was great! Make that a list. Make it James Taylor, Simon & Garfukel, them, and that always gets into dicey territory a little bit when the son plays the dad’s former role. It’s worked in some instances. Like O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ice Cube’s son, is such an incredible actor. Him playing his dad in Straight Outta Compton, it was just great. I always thought a movie my dad did that was really good was Enemy Mine with Louis Gossett Jr. I think it’s a really good movie and today could be a really good remake, but I would probably stay out of the remake. But I think they should remake it, period. spoiler Right now it’s all about The Boys. Season one is amazing, it gave people the true side of how superheroes might act in real life, because they can’t be perfect all the time. When you got on set for the first time, what were your feelings? JACK QUAID I think the first scene I ever shot was the scene between Butcher Billy Joel.” And something about Billy Joel stuck. And it became Hughie’s favorite musician, and we put him on Hughie’s t-shirts, and

Da lot of the stuff that he does and is so good at that as well. And he and Evan Goldberg, his writing partner, were in the room, and I’m a huge fan of his as well. [Seth] actually read for Butcher in my audition, which was one of the more surreal moments of my life. Like, Seth Rogen’s voice doing hardcore Cockney slang. It was just so surreal and weird, but it was incredible. So I jumped at the chance to work with him, and the fact that I’m still working on a project with him is so incredibly cool. spoiler You work with a cool cast and crew on The Boys. Which one of your co-stars really fits the character they’re playing? JACK QUAID In terms of looks, all of the superhero actors look perfect for the next day we shot the scene where Robin died, and originally the line before she died was, “We can’t keep waking up in your childhood bedroom staring up at a Led Zeppelin poster.” That was changed to Billy Joel. I mean, Billy Joel just became this huge part of Hughie’s character all based on this improvised thing that Eric and I worked out. So the fact that Eric is so collaborative with all of his actors, especially during that time when we were all figuring out who our characters were and what made them tick, I will forever take my hat off to that. He is so incredibly good at what he does and I think the show benefits greatly from his supervision and his writing. So I’m just giving a big ol’ shout out to Eric for being awesome. And Dan as well. spoiler I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but Seth Rogen is involved as one of the executive producers. What was it like meeting him and working with him? JACK QUAID That was another being-superstarstruck moment. I actually met him during my audition, which was so nerve-racking because, like Simon Pegg, I’m in awe of that dude. He’s so funny and such a great performer, but also writes their roles, and I would say that for The Boys too. What’s interesting is, we’re all pretty similar to our characters. I mean, obviously for the superheroes, they’re not evil. But I think Laz Alonso is kind of the perfect Mother’s Milk, because he has a tendency to be a little bit OCD like Mother’s Milk. He carries around wet wipes and hand sanitizer. I don’t even know if the OCD came from, “Hey, Laz, do you want your character to have the same particular ticks that you do?” or some cosmic meeting between the two. But that would probably be the best pairing for me. He’s absolutely perfect. One of the most rewarding parts of the show, for me, is actually Hughie and MM’s relationship, which I think we get into a little bit more in season two. I just think it’s really fascinating because Marvin, his real name, is who Hughie wanted Butcher to be. Butcher is a guy who gets things done, albeit in a crazy way, but he actually fights for what he believes in. Mother’s Milk does the same thing, but he does it in a more logical way that actually thinks about the human cost of what he’s doing. And exploring that relationship with Laz was really great.

spoiler

Hearing you talk about The Boys with such passion tells me that this show means a lot to you. JACK QUAID

Absolutely. It’s like my family. A lot of

things wrapped up in one. You spend so much time with people that you get so attached. I feel very lucky to have this thing that’s been coming out over the past two years that I’m just so proud of and I get to share with such incredible people. Not only that, but everybody’s friends with people in my life and groups are getting crossed. My girlfriend is friends with everybody in the cast. It’s just cool. It’s become my whole thing. Q spoiler Let’s get a little into Hughie’s character for those who haven’t seen it yet. Who is he and what is he doing with these superheroes? JACK QUAID As I kinda spoiled earlier, Hughie Campbell is just a mild-mannered dude who works in an electronics store and exists in a world where superheroes are real and are fighting crime. Everybody loves them. They’re kind of the equivalent to our most famous actors and biggest sports superstars combined. And one day, [Hughie] is closing up shop and his lovely girlfriend, Robin, comes in and they start walking down the street and he asks him to move in with her. And he’s very excited about it. He’s a guy who would just be happy living out his days with this girl. Not really amounting to much, but as long as he’s with her, he’s okay. And all of a sudden, she steps one step into the road and a speedster superhero, akin to The Flash, runs through her accidentally and basically atomizes her into a cloud of blood right before his eyes. He’s left there holding her severed hands. The superhero rushes off and all of a sudden Hughie is in this world where he is so caught up with revenge. He gets recruited by this mysterious figure named Billy Butcher, who is a guy who takes down superheroes and, as he puts it, “spanks the bastards when they get out of line.” So it’s a show about revenge. A show about absolute power corrupting absolutely. And it’s so friggin’ insane. spoiler That scene is so crazy. That’s a reaction that would actually happen if this were real life. JACK QUAID It was an insane day. That was my second day on set. I always mention that scene, because when I was originally trying to elevator pitch the show to my friends, it was hard to pitch because there are so many elements happening. But if I just describe that one scene, they got it immediately. They were like, “Oh! Okay! Superheroes are bad. There’s collateral damage and it’s about the people trying to take them down.” You just kind of understand based on that one scene. spoiler Do you think if superheroes actually existed there would be people trying to take them down? JACK QUAID Absolutely! Just that scene with Robin, I’m like, “Yeah, of course if The Flash actually existed he would run into somebody… like, eventually he would have to make that mistake.” There are so many people walking around on the street. And I think there’s a reason why, in some iterations of The Flash, you just see nobody on the street when he’s running around. I think that whether or not their intentions are good, superheroes are still human and they’re gonna make human mistakes like that. And there are also people who, if you give them power, they become very, very corrupt. And that’s the case with the character of Homelander, who’s the most powerful being on earth. So why would he care what we, mere

Jack Quaid/Tommy Garcia/Glamour Magazine/Instagram

mortals, think, and what we consider to be moral and good? I feel like a lot of superheroes we know from comic books, it’s kind of assumed that they have good intentions and are good people, and then they get powers.

But this is saying, “Okay, you K don’t necessarily have to be somebody who’s a good person to have powers.” There are gonna be people who are straight-up evil. There are gonna be people who are indifferent and use their powers for their own selfish means. There’s more of a grey area and I think this show is a pretty accurate version of what it would actually be like if superheroes existed in our world. Another thing Eric said about the show, which is really interesting, is that it’s a show about masks. It’s a show about people showing different sides of themselves to different people. With the supes, they have a public persona, and then they have who they are on the inside that they don’t really show. I think the only two characters who we can see don’t have a mask, or don’t wear them initially, are Hughie and Starlight. Starlight eventually learns to put something on. She grapples with that. Like, “Should I be doing this?” And Hughie, there’s no way he can put on a mask. He just kind of has to be himself the whole time. So it’s an interesting show, especially when you view it through that lens. Everybody has a side that they show the world, and has a side that they keep to themselves.

spoiler

You and your crew are vigilantes with no powers, but you guys are ballsy dudes. What do you think a person like Hughie is thinking? JACK QUAID

The whole thing with The Boys is they have to outsmart [the supes]. Sometimes they do that via blackmail. Sometimes they’re trying to really research the heroes and find out what their weaknesses are. We have a hero named Translucent in episode 2 of season 1 who comes to a bitter end. I don’t wanna spoil too much, but we figure out exactly how to take him down. It’s bloody, for sure. But we kinda have to outsmart him and figure out a way around his powers in order to kill him. We basically have to think and plan and be willing to fight dirty.

spoiler

There are a lot of cliffhangers about The Boys and The Seven and Vought. What can you share without sharing to much. JACK QUAID

I think the one that most people are super excited for is what’s the deal with Becca and Homelander’s son. What’s going on with that? What is this house? I’m not gonna say anything about it, but we get into it for sure. We’re not gonna leave you in the dark. Something I’ve always wondered about is what’s gonna happen with Hughie and Starlight now. She basically broke up with him, and rightfully so. I think Hughie feels super bad about lying to her for that entire season, but she basically lets him go. I dunno. Is there still a romantic thing? Are they just done? Are they gonna ever see each other again? We answer those questions too. So, I dunno. I think I just spoiled a lot of the end of season one for anyone who hasn’t watched it [laughs]. There’s definitely a lot of lingering questions from season one, but I think we address all of them.

spoiler

A lot of times with these secretive shows, the showrunners might not tell the actors too much ahead of time. Is that true? JACK QUAID

I knew about some stuff that would happen with my character, but I really didn’t know about a lot of the cliffhangers until I read the first script. And I’m like you guys. I’m like, “Oh my God! What?!” every time I read one of them. [The showrunners] know everything and every time I’m in an interview setting with Eric, I feel so much more comfortable because he can say what he thinks is appropriate and I can just chill and not have to answer those questions [laughs].

spoiler

Things are going very well for you with the show and the movie projects you have coming up. Does it get nerve-racking sometimes? JACK QUAID

DThis is basically my therapy, where I’m always like, “Oh man, when’s the other shoe gonna drop?” I just feel incredibly lucky to be on these shows, but also just in general, I feel lucky to do what I do. So I always fear that someone’s gonna pop out and be like, “It was all a lie!” But I think every time I feel that, I just reflect on how I feel genuinely blessed and lucky to be a part of projects that, not only are fun to work on, but I genuinely love and would watch even if I wasn’t involved. spoiler Do you feel like you don’t go to as many auditions anymore? JACK QUAID It’s weird. I had a few auditions over Zoom, which has been really interesting. It’s like doing a scene that you would normally do with another person in a room, but just over a computer. It’s just so odd. But definitely possible. Oh, actually, there’s another thing I have at Comic Con this year. I have a cartoon called Star Trek: Lower Decks. I’ve been doing some lines that we missed, basically from my closet—we’ve kind of converted that into a little voiceover studio. So I’m still acting, but there’s an itch that’s not getting scratched. And I know a lot of other performers who feel the same way right now. But mostly I’ve just been playing Fortnite with Jesse T. Usher, who plays A-Train (on The Boys), so it’s been great! spoiler What can you tell us about Lower Decks? JACK QUAID It’s an animated Star Trek show. A comedy that focuses on, not the bridge crew or the captains or the first officers, it focuses on the ensigns who are on the lower decks of the ship. And they’re the ones who basically have to do all the dirty work. They have to repair the ship when it’s broken. They have to fix the food replicators. They have to take out the trash, basically, in the holodeck. And it’s great! I really love the show because it’s set in the Star Trek world, and it’s a comedy, but in no way is the show making fun of Star Trek or people who like Star Trek. It’s a show that hopefully audiences can laugh along with. Occasionally there will be a weird aspect of Star Trek that we touch on and I hope that fans can go, “Oh! I recognize that as being an odd thing in that universe,” and laugh along with us. Mike McMahan is the showrunner. He was a writer on Rick and Morty and he co-created Solar Opposites with Justin Roiland. And he’s the ultimate Star Trek nerd and taught me so much about that universe. I was a big Star Wars fan, and now I feel like Star Trek and Star Wars are kinda tied for my affection. He told me all the best episodes to watch of The Next Generation. Our show is actually set in that era. Before the events of Star Trek: Picard, but I think after or during the TNG era. To be a part of this universe is such an honor and such a responsibility because this show has been such an institution for so long. And the fact that I get to play around in that sandbox is really a dream come true—even if my character is a lowly

ensign who is not that high in rank. Much like Hughie on The Boys, where I’m on a superhero show and don’t get superpowers, I’m on a Star Trek show and I’m not on the bridge. But I’m having a blast! Q spoiler Between live-action or animation, which do you prefer more? JACK QUAID I love both so much, but if I had to choose I’d choose live-action just because you get to interact with a whole crew full of people and you’re just in the trenches with people. I love being on set, it’s such a great experience. Animation is super fun and super great, but you’re only in there for like a day or so. You don’t really get to meet everybody involved in the project. And one of the things I love most about acting is the sense of community that you build. And you make friends, sometimes for life. So if I had to choose, I’d choose live-action, but animation does hold a special place in my heart just because I grew up on cartoons. And just being a cartoon, period, has been such a dream. spoiler You said you’re into comics. If you could be a superhero in a DC or Marvel movie, who would it be? JACK QUAID That’s the one thing about being on The Boys: I’m in a superhero show but I don’t have any superhero powers [laughs], which is like, “Ughhh!” I know I’ve been tagged on Instagram as The Flash. I would love that. He would be really great. The other one though, because I’m lanky and I read the Fantastic Four comic books when I was a kid, would be Mister Fantastic. I feel like I could be a stretchy superhero. And I mean, Spider-Man has always been my favorite and I think I could be at least a good Peter Parker in that sense, but I’m not trying to take anyone’s job. Everybody who’s playing these superheroes now are perfect for the roles, so maybe there’s something that will come along that I’ve never heard of that will be perfect. Much like The Boys. I didn’t realize it was based on the comics, but there it was. Stuff comes along, and I would absolutely not be opposed to playing a superhero. spoiler You sound like a fan and you think like a fan, which is why you’re always gonna give them the best version of yourself in everything you do. JACK QUAID Totally, thank you! it’s weird because I feel like if I wasn’t on [The Boys], I’d be at Comic Con just as a fan. I’ve been to San Diego Comic Con a few times before I was on The Boys and it’s just cool to be in a group of people who are just all into the same stuff you are. I’ve been to New York Comic Con as a fan, too. And I went to Dragon Con last year with Karl Urban, and that was one of the best times I ever had. Atlanta was incredible. The Atlanta nerds at Dragon Con are just incredible and amazing. I miss that too. spoiler How did it feel going to your first Comic Con as a celebrity? JACK QUAID It’s really odd. Because in my head, I’m like, “Why are you waiting to meet me?” But I think just talking to everyone was incredible because you just get to know the fans face-to-face, which is such an incredible experience that I’ve never really had on any other project. Just getting to talk to people who are fans of the show one-on-one. And sometimes I’ve had really deep discussions about, like, anxiety, or people would tell me stuff and I was very happy to listen and get to know them a little bit. Especially at Dragon Con. Everyone was just so cool. I know this sounds cheesy, but I felt like after they left my table I genuinely made a friend of some kind. It’s been really interesting. I did a convention in Valencia, Spain right before everything shut down. And even there, I felt the same. These conventions have such a positive and incredible vibe to them. You can’t help but leave feeling very refreshed and very connected to everyone, to humanity, in an interesting way. I know that’s from a very narrow, comic book convention lens, but it’s very nice and I miss conventions during this time for sure.

spoiler

Do you believe in ghosts?

JACK QUAID

DYes. There has to be. I’m in my apartment right now and I think there’s a ghost in here. I swear to God, there’s like a certain energy from one part of the apartment. I don’t think it’s bad. I don’t think it’s negative. There was one point where my girlfriend went out of town to visit her family and I was watching her cat at my place, and there was one room of my apartment that it would just go into and just start meowing out of nowhere. And things that I’ve never seen this cat do before. I dunno. I also grew up going to this place in Montana a lot, and there was kind of a cabin there owned by this dude, Warren

Oates—he was like a Western movie actor. And everyone who ever stayed in that cabin would hear footsteps or had a sense that somebody was there. There’s gotta be something because I think as you live a life, you kinda leave behind energy. And at some place it can be so strong that it can carry over, even after you die. That’s what I think. And I might be wrong. Call me crazy, but I’m into it. spoiler Have you ever experienced anything paranormal on set? JACK QUAID I personally haven’t while filming, but I know there was

an area—and I don’t wanna give away too much about season 2—but there was basically a hospital or old asylum Jack Quaid/Plus One/RLJE Films/Michael Buckner/The Boys/Amazon/ Sony/Dynamite Entertainment/Jenna Greene/David Needleman somewhere in Ontario that other members of the cast—not me—shot at. And everyone came away from it being like, “Okay, it’s haunted. There’s something there.” People were just kind of experiencing a presence while on set. Holiday Special Edition 2021| I 63

spoiler

If you had a time machine, would you go to the future or the past? JACK QUAID

Oh my God, I think I would have to go to the past and warn someone about something. Just to like, maybe make sure the present’s a little bit better. That’s what I think I would do. Also I’m a huge fan of Back to the Future and going back to any time period in the past just seems fascinating. Also, I would bring $100 and it would be like, $1 million back then. Where would you go?

spoiler

I would go back in time to some big historic situation that I kind of think didn’t really happen and try to see if it was real or not. JACK QUAID

You know, I’d see if aliens really did crash in Roswell. That’s what I would do, for sure.

spoiler

What’s the one movie you remember seeing as a kid that’s affected you today? JACK QUAID

I mentioned one of them a second ago. Back to the Future, I think, was the movie I watched at every sleepover for a very long time. It’s just such a fun, incredible—funny, but also heartfelt, and it has a sci-fi element to it. Actually, I remember when I first started talking about the role of Hughie with Dan Trachtenberg—in the first episode, we mention Marty McFly. Marty’s a little cooler than Hughie is, but he has that kinda vibe to him. We were trying to bring that into the character. The other movie I watch at least once a year is Jaws. I don’t know what it is about that movie. The characters are great. I like the story about how it was made and how difficult it was to make the animatronic shark work in salt water, so they had to film around it, which is why you don’t see the shark for the first 75% of the movie. I just think that’s so interesting that it was such a stressful shoot for everybody, but if that movie hadn’t gotten made, or if they failed to make it the way that they did, we wouldn’t get all the other great Spielberg movies and all that stuff. So much came down to Jaws. It changed everything. The summer blockbuster was formed out of that and it was such a grind to make it. So I just find that movie endlessly fascinating.

What is the most memorable or exciting thing you’ve seen onset? JACK QUAID

I can’t give it away. There’s something that happens in episode 3 of season 2 of The Boys that’s just the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my entire career. And I just think nothing’s ever gonna top that. You’ll know it when you see it, but it’s just the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life. You’ll know it soon enough and you will not be able to forget it.

spoiler

If there’s one message you can pass to your fans, what would that be? JACK QUAID

“Thank you. Fans of The Boys, thank you so much for coming on this journey with us. We are continually in awe of you guys. You guys have the cosplay, the fan art. Just the love from all of you, it’s felt and it’s deeply appreciated. We just genuinely could not do this show without you guys, so thank you so much. And also, thank you for hanging in there and being patient with us and allowing us to finish the show, edit it, and get it to be the best possible quality for you guys. And just thanks for being fans.”