Daveed Diggs as Oh Father on season five of "The Boys."

Prime Video

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

Daveed Diggs says it was inevitable that the religious overtones on the fifth and final season of The Boys would coincide with real-life events.

“It's intentional,” Diggs, who plays a religious leader and supe named Oh Father, said. “I think the writers of this show are really smart, and with this storyline, the writing has been on the wall for this in our real world for so long.”

In season five, Homelander (Antony Starr), the show’s central antagonist, continues to reshape America in his image, pushing it deeper into authoritarianism. After a vision in episode three, he becomes convinced that his destiny is to become the one true God.

The Boys has never been subtle in its critique of American politics, even if some viewers were slow to catch on, but Homelander’s messianic turn has taken on an especially eerie resonance. Recently, President Donald Trump posted, then deleted, an AI-generated image on Truth Social depicting himself as Jesus. Trump later said that he thought the image portrayed him as a doctor.

“The weaponizing of religion for political gain has been a huge part of our politics for a long time, Diggs said of the show’s timeliness. “So, I think it was really a bold choice for them to put it in this season because I think they knew it would resonate. But also, if there were another season, it would resonate, and it would’ve resonated last season. This has been happening for a long time.”

A fan of The Boys, Diggs said he was initially surprised when he learned the show was interested in casting him for its final chapter.

“I was just like, that show's perfect. What do you need me for?” he recalled.

After he sat down with showrunner Eric Kripke and got a deeper sense of the character, he became hooked.

“It was all of a sudden something I really wanted to do and thought, ‘Oh, if this is what we’re doing, yeah, maybe I can bring something to this,’” Diggs said. “I was nervous about it. It is tough to join the final season of a show that you're a fan of. It is a nerve-wracking thing.”

Diggs, who was raised Jewish and describes himself as “not particularly religious,” prepared for the role by watching webcasts of Evangelical pastors, studying the theatricality and physicality of megachurch leaders.

Oh Father, who marries Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie), the Vought executive-turned Vice President of the United States, for optics, becomes a key figure in Homelander’s effort to weaponize religion and convert Americans into true believers.

Diggs said that Oh Father spends the first half of the series listening and observing, aware that his megachurch is deep in debt and he needs this business relationship to work.

By midseason, he puts those observations into action. Diggs’ character helps spread word about Homelander’s supposed destiny through the “divine rebranding” of Samaritan’s Embrace into The Democratic Church of America, questions Firecracker (Valorie Curry) about her allegiance and appears on The Deep’s (Chace Crawford) Manhandled podcast to discuss how to usher young men into the religious fold.

For Oh Father, every move is strategic.

“He doesn’t idolize all of these people,” Diggs said. “He doesn't really idolize anybody except Homelander, and he has the most to gain from Homelander. He's a hustler, and he's good at relationships.”

The first five 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.