‘The Boys’ on Prime Video: Simon Pegg’s Role Is a Big Deal for Fans

If you’ve streamed at least one episode of Prime Video’s The Boys, then you know the show ain’t playing around. The special effects are legit, the violence is intense, the jokes are hard, and the cast is committed. Karl Urban and Elisabeth Shue lead the killer cast as the two heads of two polar opposite, but equally cutthroat, organizations. Urban plays Billy Butcher, leader of the cape-killing squad the Boys. Shue plays Madelyn Stillwell, the government agent with oversight over the super-powered (and super corrupt) superhero team the Seven. But Shue and Urban aren’t the only movie stars on The Boys. The show also features Urban’s Star Trek co-star Simon Pegg in a recurring role as the father of Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), the totally average dude who gets mixed up in the Boys’ vendetta. For fans of Pegg’s, his role on The Boys adds a favorite flavor to the bold concoction. But to fans of the original Boys comic, Pegg’s small role is a big deal.

That’s because The Boys artist Darick Robertson modeled lead schmo Hughie after Simon Pegg. Seriously, Hughie is Simon Pegg! Just look at the side-by-side below! Pegg even wrote the foreword for the paperback collection of the first six issues of the comic.

It’s actually not surprising that Pegg had such an impact on the visuals of the original Boys comic. The series comes from Irish writer Garth Ennis, who was no doubt very aware of Pegg’s body of work back when The Boys debuted 13 years ago. Pegg was a big star across the pond due to his roles in Shaun of the Dead and the TV series Spaced. Both of those were cult hits in the States, and Pegg’s stardom began to rise over here the very year The Boys comic debuted. Pegg had a small role in 2006’s Mission: Impossible III, which he’s played in every subsequent M: I movie. He then starred in Hot Fuzz in 2007 and his American stardom was cemented in 2009 when he became the new Scotty in Star Trek.

With Pegg being the literal face of Hughie, fans always assumed Pegg would play the part should a live-action adaptation of The Boys happen. After all, that’s essentially how Samuel L. Jackson ended up with the role of Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Artist Bryan Hitch redesigned the character to look just like Jackson, and the actor took on the role six years later. After an adaptation of The Boys languished in development for a decade, however, Pegg aged out of the part. That’s where 27-year-old Jack Quaid comes in, who plays Hughie on Amazon’s The Boys. And to honor the actor that gave his literal face to the character, the show cast Pegg as Hughie’s dad.

Quaid spoke with Decider about filming scenes alongside the guy that, in a weird way, originated the role (even if he never actually played it).

“I was so intimidated, man, once I figured out that Simon–well I guess he never played the role, but he kind of did in a way,”  Quaid told Decider during The Boys junket. “So I felt like it was huge shoes to fill. The fact that I got to work with him and he was so incredibly nice and so amazing on set. I mean that was like, that was it for me, man. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, World’s End, those are some of my favorite movies of all time. He’s amazing, he really is.”

The Boys Season 1 is now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video.

Stream The Boys on Prime Video