Jack Quaid, the star of The Boys, discusses what Hughie may expect in season 4, including a more open and “stronger” romance with Starlight than in season 3.

Things remain twisted up in The Boys universe, but Hughie Campbell and Annie January’s relationship remains stable.

Jack Quaid told Collider what fans can expect to see from Hughie and his supes ex-Seven lover in the war against Vought International, which Homelander controls. “This season, they’re the closest they’ve ever been,” he added, contrasting it with the ups and downs of their relationship throughout season 3, but admitting, “I think it needed to happen. When you go through experiences like that and survive them, you become considerably stronger. So, I believe Annie and Hughie are stronger than they have ever been this season, which I enjoy seeing.”

This openness, Quaid added, will make Hughie and Annie (i.e. Starlight) a more effective duo as both a couple and revolutionaries, with Annie joining the Boys team in season 3’s finale. “I just love seeing the two of them not having to hide anything from the world and just being themselves around each other, being a full-on couple, happy as one can be in a world like the one we exist in on the show. That was wonderful, just to see them as a truly lived-in couple this season. That was such an interesting dynamic to play because it’s always so fraught, but they’re each other’s rocks this season, for sure,” he continued. In the same interview, Quaid told fans to expect even more grotesque situations across season 4, adding, “There are certain moments in this season that, when I initially read them in the script, I gasped out loud, which is very hard to get me to do, after four seasons. But yeah, you know right away when you’re reading it that it’s gonna be pretty crazy.”

What Will Happen in Season 4 of The Boys?

Season 3 found the Boys once again on the back foot, not only dealing with Homelander’s growing power and radicalized fanbase, but Congresswoman/metahuman Victoria Neuman’s Vice President run thanks to her secret alliance with the Seven leader. Both Neuman and Homelander appeared in last year’s The Boys‘ spinoff Gen V, with the former’s cameo not only establishing a connection to protagonist Marie Moreau, but Godolkin University’s secret development of a virus that targets superheroes. The virus recently made a return in The Boys latest season 4 trailer, cut between scenes of Homelander and Starlight supporters clashing and Homelander encouraging other superheroes to become more violent.

Along with familiar The Boys and Gen V characters, season 4 will introduce two new Seven members: alt-right extremist Firecracker and super genius Sister Sage. Jeffrey Dean Morgan from The Walking Dead, who previously collaborated with producer Eric Kripke on Supernatural, will also appear in season 4 in an unnamed role.