Eric Kripke and Chace Crawford on Why The Deep Is the 'Forrest Gump' of The Boys Season 2

If you've just finished mainlining the three action-packed episodes of The Boys Season 2 premiere, you're probably sitting in your living room whispering "what the ever-loving f--k" to yourself over and over again. Between Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) driving a speedboat through a whale, Homelander (Antony Starr) throwing his own son off a roof, and every Stormfront (Aya Cash) live-stream that went viral, The Boys Season 2 kicked off by throwing everyone -- supes, vigilantes, and fans alike -- off the deep end. So it's only fitting that the most comically sinister mystery introduced in the Season 2 premiere was heralded by The Deep (Chace Crawford), who was recruited into an incredibly creepy Scientology-esque church after getting kicked off the Seven and relocated to Ohio. 

"It's not a cult, what are you talking about?" Crawford joked in an interview with TV Guide before explaining that The Church of the Collective isn't trying to rehabilitate The Deep and get him back on the Seven out of the goodness of their own hearts. "The Church and The Deep are definitely mutually using each other for different reasons. They sought him out right? He was at his low point and whether they preyed upon him or not, you know, he really needed that help and that philosophy and that sort of detox as well. He needs them to realize what he really wants, which is getting back on the Seven," Crawford said.

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But what The Deep doesn't quite get, according to showrunner Eric Kripke, is that his dreams and ambitions make him a meager pawn in The Church of the Collective's grander schemes. "The Deep is sort of the Forrest Gump of Hollywood trends, and one trend is to get involved in religions that aren't so interested in helping you as much as they are draining your pocketbook and isolating you from your friends," said Kripke. "The Church is ultimately, far more interested in his financial potential than they are in the potential of his soul. They'll get a pretty steep cut of any money that he makes upon his return."

It sounds like The Church of the Collective is making a big investment in The Deep and expecting large returns -- both financially and in terms of influence in the Seven -- but Kripke and Crawford demurred when asked what The Collective ultimately wants in this Compound V-riddled world, both hinting that fans would just have to stay tuned.

All he knows for sure, said Crawford, is that "the Frescas are creepy."

The Boys Season 2 premiered Sept. 4 with the first three episodes, and the remaining five will drop weekly on Amazon Prime.