Michele Fazekas walks EW through two of the big moments from episode 5.
The fourth episode ofThe BoysspinoffGen Vleft us with some loose ends.
Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) also divulged that she was sexually assaulted by Rufus in the past.
Maddie Phillips stars as Cate Dunlap on ‘Gen V’.Brooke Palmer/Prime Video
Plus, he was spotted mingling with Dean Shetty (Shelley Conn).
It seemed cut and dry.
And yet, it wasn’t Rufus.
Asa Germann as Sam on ‘Gen V’.Brooke Palmer/Prime Video
Was there a specific thing that you wanted Cate’s character to represent in the context of this show?
MICHELE FAZEKAS: Cate is really interesting.
When I came onto the show, there was already a pilot script.
I was like, “Oh!
Cate’s the most powerful of all of them.”
It’s very hidden because she just seems like Golden Boy’s girlfriend, or she’s just pretty.
But when you actually think about what she can do, she has exponentially more power than anyone.
The drugs that you see her taking, that is in part what controls it.
Part of it’s just her own personality.
You’ll find out a little bit of her backstory in subsequent episodes.
There’s always a cost to [the powers].
For her, you’ll find out what it’s like to be able to hear everyone’s thoughts.
What does that do to you?
If you rein that in, are you reining everything?
It’s a really complicated power and it plays into some of Marie’s story.
Our parents shot us up with a chemical when we were babies.'
She has a lot of repressed rage about that.
And let’s just say it’s going to come out.
I would also love to know everything anyone could possibly ever want to know about this muppet massacre sequence.
To start, where did the idea come from?
Was this a writers' room brainstorm?
I can’t remember what came first, theJason Ritterscene or the puppet scene.
It comes out of story and character.
I’ve built puppets before."
So, he built all the puppets.
I have one of the guards.
I think people were a little nervous about, is this going to look good?
Is this going to be stupid?
We’re not going to shoot it like muppets.
We’re going to shoot it and cut it like an actual fight sequence.
The only difference is it’s puppets, but then having the sparkles and silly string instead of blood.
That was one of the more amazing things that any of us have been involved with.
Yeah, because you’re not seeing real blood and real gore.
This is my first foray into streaming, so obviously the rules are different than in broadcast.
I think inThe Boysand our show, the violence is so over the top.
I had worked onLaw & Order: SVUfor five years.
How did you actually shoot it?
Was this a much smaller stage than your live-action ones?
We realized you cannot shoot this on a location.
You actually have to build that set.
We had puppeteers come in and help us with the prep for that.
You rely on the subject matter experts who are puppeteers and they tell you what they need.
What are the actual challenges of shooting with muppets and what are the benefits?
The challenges are just the physical logistics.
It takes a longer amount of time.
Also for the actors, they’re acting against a puppeteer.
They can see everything.
It didn’t feel impossible.
Then once you get into editing any fight sequence, you assemble it and then it just shrinks.
What you actually see is a tiny fraction of what was actually shot.
I love how you took something so inherently comical but took it so seriously.
From the outset, we were like, “You do not need to add a joke here.”
The joke is that it’s puppets, and that’s the only joke.
Everything else is real.
I think if you start adding on hilarious bits within a puppet sequence, it’s already too much.
Everyone understood the assignment.
This is a real serious fight sequence.
You shoot it that way, you treat it that way, you perform it that way.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
New episodes ofGen Vdrop Fridays on Prime Video.
