‘The Boys’ Star Claudia Doumit Reflects On Victoria Neuman’s “S—t Show” Season 4: “She’s An Incredibly Conflicted Character”

“You know that meme where there’s the dog sitting in fire and it says, ‘Everything is fine’?” The Boys star Claudia Doumit asks DECIDER on a recent Zoom call. “That’s Victoria Neuman’s mind this season, essentially.”

Doumit may be having the time of her life playing the evil politician, but Neuman has admittedly had a rough go since being introduced in Season 2 as an AOC-adjacent politic, and later, outed as a supe.

Neuman has seriously subverted viewers’ expectations. As I tell the Australian-born actress, The Boys fans are loving Neuman’s ruthless approach to getting what she wants (and looking good while doing it.) But the politician finds herself at a crossroads when Season 4 kicks off.

The new season begins with what should be one of the biggest nights of Neuman’s life. All of her political and professional dreams are coming true now that she’s set to enter the White House as Robert Singer’s vice president, but all that hope crumbles away when Antony Starr‘s Homelander crashes the party and reminds her with his most bone-chilling smile that she’s still in his pocket, vice president-elect or not.

During our chat, Doumit notes that Season 4 marks a major turning point for Neuman. “It feels as though she’s pulled between two parts of herself this season, the part of her that that is in pursuit of absolute power and the part of her that just wants to run,” she says.

DECIDER caught up with the actress to talk about her character’s “terrifying” alliance with Homelander, what it’s like sharing scenes with Starr and Susan Heyward, and what was really going through her head when she received that shocking photo of a “random guy’s asshole” in Episode 1.

DECIDER: What is your perspective on your character’s alliance with The Seven?

DOUMIT: Oh, God, she doesn’t want to be in that alliance. No, she she very much thought that the deal that she made with Homelander was one and done. In the beginning of Season 4, she very quickly realizes the cost of the deal she brokered to get to this position of power. So we find this character who’s typically quite strategic and used to operating the shadows, thrust into a partnership with someone who was very erratic and volatile, and that is a terrifying space for Neuman to be in.

What do you think her headspace is like in Season 4? Now she’s working with Homelander, they know she’s a supe, she’s a mom. What’s going on with her?

It’s a shit show up there… This season, she’s essentially stuck between a rock and a hard place, and she’s put herself there. I think she can feel the exit route getting smaller and smaller, but she’s lived and operated this way for so long that it’s kind of hard to escape it, but I think she’s finally seen where that leads, and [is] sort of having this internal battle of, are you sure you don’t want to drive back in the other direction? The deeper we go into the season, the more it feels as though there’s a voice in her head this season that’s kind of ringing the alarms. And every decision she makes that gets her deeper and deeper into this partnership with Homelander, the louder that voice gets in her head.

It feels as though she’s pulled between two parts of herself this season: The part of her that is in pursuit of absolute power and the part of her that just wants to run away and escape all of it. And you you see that unravel as the season goes along. You see her become very destabilized internally.

I feel like you do a lot with your facial expressions, and every line delivery shows Victoria struggling between what she knows is right and what she feels like she has to do.

She’s an incredibly conflicted character, and almost everything that comes out of her mouth, there is something else happening in her head.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people who are just huge fans of Victoria’s girlboss-villain energy, and I would love to hear what your experience has been like playing this nuanced character.

She’s so nuanced and complicated… She communicates in such a subversive kind of subtle way. And her entire demeanor is very stoic, almost, and calm, and that is not me at all, which makes it endlessly fun to be able to to put on that character. Every time I step on set, I have an absolute blast playing Victoria Neuman, because a lot of what I find interesting about her character is what happens when she’s not talking.

What was it like sharing scenes with Antony Starr and Susan Heyward?

Susan might be my favorite character this season, really. I love her. I love Sister Sage, she is brilliant. I love it. You know what? No, that’s insane. I love everyone. I love everyone that’s come on to the show. Valorie [Curry] is so hilarious as Firecracker. She does, like every single actor on this show, does a stupendous job at bringing their character to life.

I remember being so nervous coming onto the show, because it just felt as though every single actor on this show was a giant, like they were just phenomenal at what they did. It’s a joy, because as an actor, you want to work with another actor who’s just going toe-to-toe with you in a scene and playing. That’s the most incredible thing you can ask for on any job.

[Series creator] Eric Kripke mentioned during that one scene that you had in Episode 1 where you received that photo on your phone, that was your legitimate first reaction. Could you tell us what you were expecting and what went through your head when you saw that?

The butt-hole moment. I had no idea that was about to happen, and I loved it, which I fully understand is a choice sentence to use in reference to seeing a random guy’s asshole on my phone screen. But I love that Phil [Scriaggi], our director, did that, I didn’t have to imagine a thing. I was honestly just trying my hardest to maintain my American accent in that moment, whilst having a genuine reaction to seeing a random guy’s asshole on my phone. So that was really where my head was at during that. But I love that I didn’t have to even try in that moment.

We don’t know [whose it is]. And isn’t that the beauty of it? Yeah, isn’t that kind of magic of it. It’s [Kripke’s] fun little secret, but I will say it’s the best, and only, unsolicited dick-anus pic I ever want to receive. So that’s cool.

The Boys airs new episodes every Thursday on Amazon Prime.