Karl Urban has revealed that Billy Butcher’s father appears in The Boys season 2, episode 7, and is played by none other than fellow Lord Of The Rings actor, John Noble. As Butcher, Urban may play one of the leads in The Boys, but the actor has had a long career in Hollywood, including appearing in four of the biggest movie franchises of all time. In addition to playing Bones in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies, Skurge in Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, and a secret cameo appearance as a stormtrooper in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Urban also played Eomer in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of The Rings trilogy.
Urban’s role in those films came about thanks to the trilogy being shot in his native New Zealand. Jackson’s movies cast a number of actors from the island nation, as well as its neighboring country, Australia. Another antipodean to appear in the trilogy was Noble, a noted theater actor, who played the mad steward of Gondor, Denethor. While Urban and Noble didn’t share any scenes together in The Lord of the Rings either, the two actors likely got to know each other on the promotional circuit for the trilogy and other related events, and are due for an onscreen reunion this week.
Urban has taken to Instagram today to post a photo of he and Noble together, revealing that Noble will appear in this coming Friday’s episode of The Boys, titled “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker” as none other than Butcher’s father, Sam. Teasing that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Urban says that Sam Butcher is a “brutal force of nature” in the episode, and added that he “loved working” with the veteran actor. Check out the post below:
View this post on InstagramWTF!💥 #lordoftherings @theboystv Mashup 😱 John Noble …aka Denethor Is Butchers dad ep7 Loved working with John His Sam Butcher is a brutal force of nature! #nextepisode #friday #fringe @amazonprimevideo
The casting was likely deliberate on the part of the showrunners, as it provides yet another nice little inside joke for fans in the know, following the casting of former X-Men star Shawn Ashmore as Lamplighter. It’s also a minor spoiler for the episode, revealing that Butcher will either visit his parents in the new installment, or that they appear in flashbacks. Given Noble’s age, it’s most likely not a flashback, which means that after meeting Butcher’s Aunt in episode 5, audiences are going to be introduced to more members of Butcher’s family moving forwards.
In addition to Noble as his father, Sam, Lesley Nichol is also listed as playing Butcher’s mother in the upcoming episode. That will leave just his brother to be introduced, who was mentioned by Butcher’s Aunt in episode 5 as looking just like Jack Quaid’s Hughie. Whether he’s alive or not is unknown, but it’s likely he’ll turn up later this season or next if he is. But for now, the prospect of Butcher’s father, who in The Boys comics is mentioned as a brutal, abusive man, making an appearance is enticing. Hopefully it’ll give more insight into Butcher’s character, and explain exactly why he’s such a tortured and complicated man.
Source: Karl Urban
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