The Boys is gearing up for a new season, and it’s bringing in fresh talent to The Seven. Among the new cast members is Susan Heyward, who takes on the role of Sister Sage. As the most intelligent person on the planet, Sage is a powerful embodiment of the phrase, “Listen to Black women.”
Heyward’s character, Sister Sage, is set to make a splash within The Seven with the unique use of her superpower for the group’s benefit (or so The Seven hopes). However, in the world of Vought, challenges are a given. The Seven, including the formidable Homelander, The Deep, A-Train, Black Noir, and the newest member, Firecracker, present significant hurdles for Sage to overcome, setting the stage for an intense and thrilling season.
I had the incredible opportunity to speak with Heyward about her character ahead of the new season’s release, and Heyward was more than ready to take on the challenge of the fourth season of The Boys. The moment she donned the superhero suit, she knew Sister Sage’s impact would be significant. For Heyward, the process of stepping into Sister Sage’s shoes was a profoundly personal one.
Heyward shared, “It was a huge process of building the costume piece by piece. So I put on draft after draft after draft: different materials, different cuts, different different designs. So, the first time that I put on the finished suits was a really, really amazing moment for me. I got a little teary-eyed.”
It wasn’t only the costuming process that Heyward found emotional. Growing up, she didn’t see many characters who looked like her, and now, portraying one was exceptionally special for the actress.
Heyward told me, “I grew up with Storm. I don’t know if you know Cheetara from the Thundercats, and there was also one lady Gargoyle – but I didn’t see feminine women of colour in a lot of those worlds. So to be someone who could represent that now was a pretty major moment for me. That was the moment like, ‘Ah! It’s real.’”
As a woman of colour, specifically a Black woman, you are often dismissed without being listened to, and Sage experiences this during this fourth season of the series. Heyward explained that she related to this.
Heyward explained, “When [Eric] Kripke was describing the character to me before the scripts had been written, he talked about someone in the position of having so much information, so much insight, and people not listening to that person. And I know what that feels like. I know a lot of my friends know what that feels like, especially as a woman of colour – bringing so much to the table, and often the table not being designed to listen and to take in all that we have to offer. So that kind of combination of loneliness and rage and being underestimated, I could connect to that.”
Not only did Heyward share this connection with Sage, but she also learned many things about herself while portraying the character this season. Heyward shared that she learned, “So much!” However, one element in particular was not allowing the behaviour of others to determine her behaviour.
“I think, you know – how do I say this? Like, not letting other people’s behaviour determine my behaviour. You know, people are going to be who they are. There’s a certain kind of radical acceptance I think Sage gave me that people are going to be exactly who they are; that doesn’t have to determine my behaviour. And so watching her kind of slyly create situations for people to react in a way that she can expect because they’re who they are, it kind of gave me a certain freedom in my life to not feel that kind of pressure at all. I don’t have to organize anything for anybody, anywho, anywhere, anytime, to let them be exactly who they are. So I can be me,” Heyward explained.
In a series like The Boys, we viewers can look at many moments and name them as some of our favourites. So, it’s always interesting to see what memorable moments the actors have throughout their filming process.
“Oh, so many! I think the one that sticks out, that first – without giving any spoilers – that first crowd scene in episode one, where we kind of see the first time all of the pieces that Sage has put together come together in one moment. And you realize she meant for it to go exactly like that. That was really fun because I remember reading it and then to be able to live it out and have it all go exactly as the writers planned was really satisfying,” Heyward said.
Creating a rapport between characters can make a series even better. In the new season of The Boys, Heyward’s Sage and Valorie Curry’s Firecracker share some critical moments.
It was a reunion for Heyward and Curry, as they had previously worked together on the series The Following. Heyward said, “Valorie is an incredible actress. I got to work with her years ago on The Following, so it was great to meet up with her again on this set. And it was kind of a bit of giving a range on how much does Sage show her cards. How much of a show is she putting on to create rapport with Firecracker. So it was a constant experimentation so that we could give a lot of different versions to the editors, and then they came together with what they decided to go with.”
Lastly, as the character is so significant to Heyward, the idea of what the audience might think about Sage might be nerve-racking. However, Heyward knows that the character cannot be everything to everybody and encourages viewers, specifically women of colour, to take what they need from Sage.
Heyward told me, “Oh, gosh, you’re not for every different person out there. There’s going to be a different interpretation; they’re going to see something different. So I would say, take whatever you need, whether it’s permission to say the thing that normally you would keep inside, or if it’s encouragement to feel less pressure to organize other people because I feel like a lot of times women of colour, feel the need to take care of everybody and create a great space where everybody feels okay. And maybe there’s some freedom in not taking on that responsibility and letting people do what they’re gonna do.”
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