Daveed Diggs Teases Oh-Father’s Agenda in THE BOYS Tai Gooden | usagoldmines.com

Daveed Diggs is a breath of fresh air in every project he’s in, whether it is rocking the stage in Hamilton or braving a dystopian world in Snowpiercer. Now, we get to see Diggs on the small screen in The Boys as Oh-Father, a hyper religious supe who is all about supporting Homelander’s fascist America… or is he? We spoke to Diggs about Oh-Father’s true motivations and where his story is heading in The Boys season five. 

Oh-Father has really blessed The Boys season five with all of his religious chaos. This character is really taking aim at real world figures like some mega church pastors and televangelists who pretend like they’re this beacon of righteousness, but that’s not true. We know that there’s money and fame to be found from Oh-Father going down this pathway with Homelander and Ashley, but do you think he has any other ulterior motives that make him want to be aligned with them?

Daveed Diggs: I think Oh-Father’s an opportunist and a hustler, and he’s really good at a pivot, too. And his way with words has sort of served him really well his whole life. He’s not afraid to jump into the deep end of something. He is very much like, “Well, if this serves me now, I’m going to do this now. And also if it stops serving me at some point, I will get out of this. ” And so he’s got a good hustler’s mentality about all of it. 

I think he’s very smart. And so he sees a lot of potential where this could go, but he also, maybe to his detriment at some point, somewhere deep down believes in people in some way… It all gets complicated for him for sure.

Interesting. Does he legitimately practice what he preaches or is he just running a scheme altogether? 

Diggs: I think it’s both. I think the main tenet of his belief is “I am the messenger of God. As such, I have to be fly out here. If I’m doing bad, then what does that say about God?” And so that equivalency is what allows him to make almost any choice as long as it serves him and the church. The church got to look a certain way. I can’t be out here not flying private. That’s not God-like. God is the ultimate player and then me. So those are the choices that belief, and I think he does believe it, allows him to do the mental gymnastics necessary to do a lot of the preaching he does.

Absolutely. I know the TV show has mostly veered away from the comics in a lot of ways, but Oh-Father is a comic character. You had that foundation to work off of, but how did you partner together with Eric Kripke to formulate Oh-Father’s personality and bring him to live action in a different sense?

Diggs: Yeah, our Oh-Father’s pretty different from the comic book one. But working with Kripke was great because he gave me all the kinds of books that they were reading in the writer’s room about the dissolution of church and state and all of the kinds of political things they were thinking about getting into with this supe. And I also watched a lot of televangelists and evangelical pastors. It was the virtuosity that I really was able to key into.

We believe somebody who’s great at what they do. And Oh-Father is great at what he does. I think it was a really useful hook for me. And in those talks with Kripke and with all the directors, it allowed us to make these broad choices that I hope still play well in this world. The Boys is, for as insane as it is, also really grounded.

For sure, and you can feel Oh-Father’s power and influence when he’s onscreen! So you came into this established TV dynamic with all these actors who have been working together for years. But you seem to fit in perfectly. What was your experience like working with the cast, especially with Colbie Minifie and Antony Starr?

Diggs: They’re so wonderful. Colbie from day one was like, “What do you need?” Coming in on the fifth season of a show, it’s hard because you’re the new kid in school and it’s already senior year. But they also have been doing it for so long. It’s a hard show to make, man. Their hours are very, very long. All of the crew and everybody, it’s very difficult to pull off all these stunts and everything. The shots are so precise and it’s hard work. And so for them to, as soon as I show up, be like, “What do you need? Let us know. Don’t overextend yourself in these ways. Here are all the tricks of the trade… We play backgammon. Do you know how to play?” 

Everyone was so inviting and getting to spend so much time with Colbie was such a joy. I think she’s so brilliant and Antony, too. I mean, such geniuses. I was a fan before, and so I really lucked out with getting to hang with them.

Let’s see what other deeds Oh-Father gets into as The Boys season five progresses.