In the world of The Boys, it is not easy to be a good person. Now, after four seasons of battling Supes and the evil corporation they work for, Mother’s Milk has resigned himself to not making it out of this war alive. He hasn’t given up the fight, though. Nor has he lost his soul entirely. What’s it like playing a very different version of a character after all this time? We spoke to Laz Alonso about MM’s transformation in the show’s final season and his performance in episode three. The Boys star also told us what it was like to shoot a scene with just Giancarlo Esposito, being in your own head as an actor, the shocking truth about fake cigars, and more.
Nerdist: You have filmed with Giancarlo Esposito before, but in episode three of The Boys season five, you have that intense scene where it’s just the two of you alone in a small room. What was it like shooting that sequence with him?
Laz Alonso: It was great on many levels. First, because he’s one of my heroes in this business, just as an actor. Having that moment to work opposite him in a very precarious situation, because we’re on opposite ends of the spectrum here, we’re on opposite ends of the fight, yet it was a moment of truce. It was awesome.
It was also awesome to see him work. To see his process, how he changes things up on the fly, and be able to play with him. I knew that because he was a theater actor who came up in New York, that would be the energy that he brought. Very spontaneous. I’ve worked with him before, but in more of a group setting. But here, where it was more personal, man, it was fun. And it was good to feel both of our characters, who had so much history, finally be able to talk about it.
You said he’s one of your acting heroes. You’ve been doing this a long time, you’ve shared the screen with lots of big names, you’ve given this amazing performance, but when you’re working with him, do you still find yourself a little intimidated or overwhelmed or just in awe?
Alonso: Starstruck, man. Starstruck. I love that feeling. I had that feeling recently at the Saturn Awards when I got to meet Laurence Fishburne. He’s a hero. These are people I looked up to and hope to one day share the screen with. And this business just has a way of pinching you when you forget. “Oh my God, this is someone that at one time in my career, I thought one day I hope to be there with them, and here we are.” It was an amazing moment, an amazing scene. And he and I also have really good rapport personally. So we had a fun day on set anyway, and you can’t top that.
MM hasn’t given up the fight or lost his humanity, but his new cynicism has made him a lot less anxious and a lot looser this season. What was it like getting to play this version of the character versus previous seasons?
Alonso: It was challenging because you get to a certain point where you know the character so well that you react as the character. But I had to remind myself, “Oh, that’s not MM this season.” And I had to basically create a new version of him. Every scene I was in, whatever my instincts wanted to do, I had to do the opposite. So there were a lot of moments where I was in my head, where I may not have felt as authentic, and I had to battle through that. Because for the last eight years I’ve been living as this character, and it really does take over.
When you’re on set, you just move a certain way, and you do things a certain way, and you gravitate to certain things as the character. And I had to switch all that up. This was probably the most challenging season for me out of all the other seasons that I’ve done.
Well, MM is physically carrying himself differently this year. Did you consciously have to think about that aspect of your performance, or was it a natural outgrowth of this emotional state?
Alonso: No, everything was conscious this season. Everything was intentional, everything was conscious. Everything was trying to give people a different version of what they think or what they have seen for so long, to the point where they notice it. You know when you know someone, and they’re off, and you can’t really put your finger on it? “What’s wrong with that guy, what’s gotten into him?” That’s what I wanted people to feel like. “What’s gotten into MM?”
Obviously, Eric Kripke and I had a lot of talks about it. He gave me a lot of reassurance. He liked the work I was doing. I was questioning it like, “Eric, are you sure? I can do that scene again.” But he was like, “No, man, you’re killing it. We love what’s happening here and just keep doing what you’re doing.” And so that was kind of where we decided to really lean into.
What was your process like when you were trying to figure out the right balance between portraying his resignation to his assumed fate without losing the character’s natural desire to fight and be a good person?
Alonso: There are moments in the script that still give him a glimmer and a glimpse of who he really is. In episode two, where he saves Countess Crow, that’s the old MM. But then the new MM can look at Soldier Boy and leave. The old MM would never have been able to do that. The older MM would’ve sat there and risked dying to make sure he’s dead. And then go make sure he’s dead in person. Kick the body a few times.
The new version of MM, there is something liberating about not caring. And we played down the OCD this season because we wanted to show that when he lets go, there are other things as well. The trauma attached to his need to control, he also lets it go. And so yeah, there were a lot of things that allowed us to give it a different color.
One thing you still get to do is be a tough guy. You get tossed around in this episode, but you don’t actually have to fight. Do you prefer when you get to sit out the combat, or would you rather be more physically involved, like in episode one?
Alonso: It’s a balance of both. I’ve always loved the physicality of an action sequence. I love going to rehearsals. I love learning the choreography and then adding character elements to the choreography. That part’s always fun. And we have a lot of fun doing it with Brand X and those guys. But there’s also a type of gratification in being able to be the mental one of the team and just building the DNA of the character that allows him that kind of leeway to also be the thoughtful guy, the emotionally aware guy.
Considering the show has Amazon money, how good were the cigars they gave you?
Alonso: Bro. They were fantastic. And here’s the thing: I’m a cigar smoker, and they were specific on-set, no tobacco cigars. They were that special leaf that is supposed to be disgusting. They were amaaaaazing. Fake cigars, to the point where I would never be able to tell that they were fake. And I’m an avid cigar enthusiast. Fantastic smokes.
Do they smell like cigars?
Alonso: They smell like cigars. To the point where we were questioning whether or not they were real or not. We just didn’t get the buzz.
I was thinking about that, what being in that small little area with all that cigar smoke was like.
Alonso: It smelled like a cigar room. It smelled like a cigar lounge, but there were no effects. The residual stuff you get from cigar smoking, there was none of that. Went to sleep that night, woke up the next day, didn’t even feel like I smoked. I was like, “Wow, this is great.” I thought I was going to wake up feeling like crap.
Can’t get any better than that.
Alonso: We probably went through at least 25, 30 cigars to shoot that scene. It was wild.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He really hopes MM is wrong and he lives. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.