Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir on season five of "The Boys."

Prime Video

Warning: Spoilers ahead for season five, episode six of The Boys.

The Boys star Nathan Mitchell is relieved to finally talk openly about the death of his character, Black Noir, after keeping the secret close to his chest for a year and a half.

“I thought it was fitting,” Mitchell said. “[Showrunner Eric Kripke] called me before I got the script and he was like, ‘Hey, listen, it’s been a great ride, loved having you on, and it’s time for Noir to go.’ Obviously, as an actor, you want to make it to the final episode of the final season. I would’ve loved that. But we have a lot of story to wrap up and things have to take place in a certain way, and so I understood.”

In season five, episode six of The Boys (“Though the Heavens Fall”), Black Noir/Justin, and The Deep’s (Chace Crawford) ongoing feud reaches a dramatic conclusion.

After The Deep orders an eel to murder Adam Bourke (P.J. Byrne), Noir’s acting mentor, in episode five, Noir gets revenge by going after the one thing The Deep actually cares about: sea life.

In the latest episode, Noir goes behind The Deep’s back and punches a hole in Vought Petroleum’s new offshore pipeline in Alaska, resulting in a crude oil spill that kills over a billion fish. When Deep finds out about the incident, he’s devastated. But when Noir reveals that he caused it and has no remorse, The Deep snaps. He strangles Noir with a cord, grabs one of the knives tucked into the back of Noir’s supe suit and jams it into his neck, killing him.

“It was a very personal, intense moment that really is rooted in how close they are and their rivalry,” Mitchell said.

The actor said it was appropriate for Noir to die at the hands of The Deep, the person who took him under his wing when he replaced the previous Black Noir (also played by Mitchell), whom Homelander (Antony Starr) viciously murdered in the season three finale.

In contrast to the quiet, enigmatic original Noir, the new one initially struggled to understand his role, often talking too much and even interacting with characters without his mask on. When he confided in The Deep, who explained that violence is power, the character clicked. And by season five, the new Noir was fully inhabiting the character, while secretly trying to hone his acting skills and fulfill his Broadway dreams.

“I understood his mindset,” Mitchell said of Noir’s decision to seek vengeance. “I think it’s interesting because the lesson Deep taught him is that violence is power. And then the lesson Adam Bourke taught Noir is if someone upstages you, upstage them right back."

“I think Noir’s arc and his story is really about bad mentorship and what taking bad advice can do to you, the path that can lead you down,” he continued. "And so I saw it as fitting that he took all of that advice and used it to make a really bad decision.”

The first six episodes of season five of The Boys are streaming on Prime Video. New episodes release weekly on Wednesdays, culminating in the series finale on May 20.