While most characters of The Boys are taken directly from The Boys comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, many characters like Translucent, Madelyn Stillwell, Ryan Butcher, Victoria Neuman, Sister Sage, Firecracker, Mesmer, and Ashley Barrett have been created specially for the show. Interestingly, these characters have been accepted by fans the same way they have accepted Billy Butcher, Hughie Campbell, Frenchie, Kimiko, Homelander, A-Train, among others.
But it’s often not easy to play an original character in a show that is adapting from an already established source material because such characters need to be established in a different way to make a mark. Fans meet these characters for the first time, and a lot work goes into making them stand out. Colby Minifie, who plays Ashley Barrett had to establish the character from Season 1, and as we get closer to The Boys Season 5’s conclusion, one can see how far the character has come. Speaking to /Film, Minifie has opened up about how it feels to play a non-comic character.
Colby Minifie on playing a non-comic character in The Boys
In The Boys Season 5, Ashley Barrett is almost at the top of the food chain of politics. She is the Vice President of the United States of America and a supe with mind-reading abilities since she injected herself with Compound V at the end of Season 4. Ashley now uses her new powers and political role to control what the public thinks, and protect Vought and Homelander’s reputation. However, her authority is mostly superficial since is still being controlled by Vought and serves as a carefully placed figurehead rather than a real leader.
Ashley is loyal to Vought simply out of fear and because she knows being loyal will keep her safe. Even her marriage to the preacher supe, Oh Father, is not a real one, and is all for show. Ashley is an interesting character because she did rise from the position of an Assistant to Senior Vice President of Hero Management to CEO of Vought, and now the Vice President of USA, but she does not hold any real power. Her character arc is a completely original one, written solely for the show, and yet fans have found her to be interesting.
In an interview with /Film, Susan Heyward (who plays Sister Sage) and Colby Minifie were asked if playing original characters was a freeing experience for them, or if it frustrate them. Heyward said it was the former, and Minifie said,
“[It’s] freeing for me, too. Yeah, I think the fans are so wonderful and such avid fans that they want to see their image of somebody in the live-action version of the comic book, and I think that the fans are so excited that this show is happening at all and that we’ve done a really good job of making it our own, that they’re down for what we’ve done. But I’m just so grateful that the fans have included me in this world.”
Thus, even thought Minifie’s character isn’t from the comics, she feels grateful that fans have embraced Ashley anyway. As Minifie stated, all cast members who play original characters in The Boys, have had to shape their characters from scratch since there was no source material to refer them to. But regardless, fans have loved them just the same, and at the end of day, that’s all that matters.
The Boys Season 5 episode 3 will be released on Prime Video on April 15, 2026. All released episodes of the show are streaming on Prime Video.
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Edited by Sohini Biswas