Jack Quaid on Heads of State and The Boys Season 5 Ending

2025 has been a prolific year for Jack Quaid. 

He began the calendar year with the critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller, Companion, and six weeks later, he became a full-fledged action star courtesy of another well-received film in Novocaine. A handful of weeks later, he co-starred in an indie called Neighborhood Watch with his The Boys castmate, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and now he’s topping it all off with another comedic action performance in Ilya Naishuller’s wildly entertaining Heads of State, featuring Idris Elba and John Cena.

Oddly enough, Quaid shot Naishuller’s actioner well before all his other recent work. His stretch of the film as Marty Comer, a station agent for a CIA safe house, consists of an ‘80s-inspired action sequence where he has to protect Cena’s U.S. President character and Elba’s U.K. Prime Minister character from continued assassination attempts. Quaid credits the elaborate set piece for whetting his action appetite.

“[Heads of State] made me get the action bug, which I eventually brought to stuff like Novocaine. It was a dream come true,” Quaid tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Heads of State’s July 2 release on Amazon Prime Video.

Quaid is also on the verge of wrapping his satirical superhero series, The Boys, for Amazon. Needless to say, the process of bidding farewell to his career-altering role of Hughie Campbell has him feeling a bevy of emotions.

“I still have about six shooting days to go [as of June 22], and it’s just getting more and more surreal that I’m going to have to start saying goodbye to Hughie Campbell,” Quaid says. “It’s emotional. It’s bittersweet. This show has done everything for me. I love it. I love the people. I’m going to miss everyone so much, and it’s going to be weird [without it].”

Quaid is also quite content with the ending of the series and what showrunner Eric Kripke has pulled off with Garth Ennis’ source material.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished this season. I think it’s a great finale, which is a hard thing to do in TV,” Quaid shares. “I’m happy that Eric Kripke got to make the ending he intended, and he did a great job. So I’m excited for you guys to see it.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Quaid also discusses the highlights of working with Cena and Elba, before recalling the evening in which he discovered that Tom Holland was a fan of The Boys. Then he reflects on his key contribution to the ending of Novocaine.

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Heads of State is your fourth movie to be released in the last six months. 

It’s getting obnoxious at this point, I know. It’s weird. I shot all these movies over a pretty long stretch of time, and yet, somehow, they’ve all come out within a couple months of each other.

Did you typically jam-pack your schedule in between seasons of The Boys?

Well, we had a bigger break than usual this past season, but yeah, I tried to get whatever I could in [during the offseasons]. Weirdly enough, I actually shot Heads of State right after we wrapped Boys season four. So this is the first thing that I shot out of all those movies, and it’s coming out last. Hollywood is insane. But it’s cool to be talking about it because I’ve been sitting on it for so long, and I’m just so excited that I get to be a part of this thing. It’s so much fun. 

Heads of State is an Amazon movie, and The Boys is an Amazon series. Knowing that they’ve been good to you over the years, do you feel a certain loyalty to strongly consider anything else they bring your way? 

I’m grateful, of course. I am totally grateful for everything that we’ve done together. The test of whether or not I want to be a part of something is: “Would I watch this and be a fan of it, even if I wasn’t involved?” And when I read the Heads of State script, I thought, “This is a movie that I would watch with my friends at a sleepover and just absolutely adore it.” It has that incredible premise that’s so out there, but Ilya [Naishuller] makes it work so incredibly well. I love that it knows what it is. It’s having fun, and yet there is a surprising amount of heart and humanity in it, especially coming from Idris and John. So I jumped at the chance to be a part of it. 

I’ve also been following Ilya since I watched Nobody, which was a genius action movie. It reminded me of character-based action movies out of the ‘80s and ‘90s where you care about the action because you care about the character. So he and Bob Odenkirk made that work so incredibly well, and [Heads of State] made me get the action bug, which I eventually brought to stuff like Novocaine. I’m really in just a sequence of this movie. But it’s such a fun sequence in getting to work with not only Ilya, but also John and Idris. It was just a dream come true, and it was a very hard movie to say no for a variety of reasons.

I partially asked that question because Antony Starr also shot an Amazon action movie during his offseason from The Boys. 

And [G20] is also a presidential action movie!

So it seems like there’s synergy between the film and TV divisions at least.

Yeah, I guess so. I remember arriving in South Africa to shoot Novocaine right after Antony was there [for G20], and both productions had trainers for us that were working out of the same gym. So I never saw Antony in South Africa, but he had signed part of the [gym] wall, and they were like, “Will you sign right next to him?” It was such a two-ships-passing-in-the-night thing. But, yeah, it’s a total coincidence. We were at a convention, and we were both like, “Wait, we’re both doing action movies involving U.S. Presidents for Amazon? So insane.” (Laughs.) But we’re both very, very grateful.

As you touched on, this movie gave you, as Marty Comer, an ‘80s-inspired action scene with a gearing-up moment like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando or your TV dad, Simon Pegg, in Hot Fuzz. Was that the cherry on top?

Totally! A year [after filming], I went to a screening of the movie that Ilya hosted in London, and I loved finally seeing that sequence cut together. I remember smiling the whole time; I’ve always wanted to be in a sequence like that. I actually didn’t know that they were going to use Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” until I watched the movie for the first time. I knew that we were going to pick a cool song, but it’s always hard to predetermine what the song is going to be because you never really know if you’re going to get the rights or not. But the fact that it was “Sabotage” was such an incredible surprise. I remember filming the moment where I press play on the CD, but I had no idea what that song was going to be until I heard that opening guitar riff start up at the screening. I was so happy that it was “Sabotage.”

I know you shot this first, but it was strange for me to see you selling pain again on screen. I was still stuck in Nate Caine mode.

(Laughs.) Dude, I am still stuck in Nate Caine mode. I am doing fight scenes for The Boys now in Toronto, and I have to be reminded that I can feel pain. I didn’t expect [Novocaine] to stick with me this much, and sometimes, I go over the top with it. They’re like, “Okay, now you’re selling pain too much. Just sell a normal amount of pain.” So I’ve been overcompensating.

But pain is a factor, and it really does help you sell hits. That’s what I’ve learned doing action, and I love doing action sequences. It’s a part of acting that I never thought I would be in love with to this degree, but every time I get to do one, I jump at the chance. I truly love it. 

There’s a shot of you in the center of the frame over Idris and John’s shoulders. Is that an intimidating position to be in? 

Yes, and I love those guys so much. They set such an incredible tone of what the number one on the call sheet should be, and they’re some of the kindest actors I’ve ever worked with. John Cena was basically like my dad the whole shoot. He was like, “You don’t have to do the stunt during the rehearsal. I don’t want you to pull a muscle.” He takes care of everybody, and I thought that was so genuine and sweet. 

Idris Elba is also one of the coolest people I’ve ever met in my life. He’s a very accomplished DJ, and I remember showing him one of these dumb little mashups of songs I made with this app on my phone. And he was like, “That’s dope, man.” (Quaid does his best Idris Elba impression.) Getting a “that’s dope, man” from Idris Elba was truly one of the greatest moments of my life.

But it was very intimidating to be in that scene with them. They’re both so incredible, and you want to measure up to them and make sure that the scene is working. My role very much comes during what people like to call the “fun and games” part of the movie. I’m supposed to inject a little bit of fun and humor, and they’re both at the point in their arcs where they just don’t really like each other all that much. Marty then fawns over John Cena’s character, and while he’s still respectful of Idris’ character, he’s not fanboying over him like he is with John Cena’s [action star-turned-U.S. President]. So it does create even more tension between them, and knowing that was my role going into it, I just had a blast.

For an action-comedy, I was also surprised by the ripped-from-the-headlines quality to it.

What’s great about this movie is that it’s about two world leaders who have their differences, but they’re willing to put them aside for the greater good. They truly care about the people that they’re leading, and that’s something that we sorely need in this time. It’s interesting, though, because we shot it a long time ago in the grand scheme of things. We shot it two years ago, and it’s interesting how headlines catch up to what you’re making, sometimes. I experience that constantly with The Boys, and it’s a very surreal thing. So to be in a great project that’s able to have a message and also have fun is really nice.

One of my favorite moments in any movie this year is when your Companion character welcomes his companion robot named Iris to the sounds of Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris.”  

(Laughs.) 

Are you of the mind that he named his robot after his favorite Goo Goo Dolls track? Or did he decide to welcome a pre-named robot in the corniest way possible? 

Well, Josh Beaman is kind of a corny dude, so maybe he did [welcome her that way]. I also didn’t know that song was going to be playing in that moment. It was really important to me that we see him clipping his toenails as he’s waiting for her to boot up. He talks to her like an inanimate object [during their love link pairing], and then once she comes online, that switch happens and Josh feels a surprise. Drew Hancock directed that so expertly. Josh is such an interesting, weird, despicable character, and getting a little bit more context to his life was a really fascinating day. We weren’t even shooting on the main set of that movie; we were in some random apartment. But I don’t think he cares about Iris’ feelings in that moment, and his main flaw is his lack of empathy.

Did a certain person in your life point at the screen like Leo DiCaprio when she heard the soundtrack to that scene? (Note: Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” was written for City of Angels, starring Quaid’s mother, Meg Ryan.)

Well, I actually have not seen that movie with my mom, so I guess not. (Laughs.) But Drew told me about that [song] after the fact, and it was just a really cool, coincidental, amazing reference. It’s awesome.

I’m trying to speak this into existence, but when are you going back to Cape Town for Novocaine 2?

Oh, thank you for trying to speak that into existence. I’d love to do another Novocaine. I have also loved the amount of people that have checked out that movie since it’s come on streaming. It’s unbelievable, and thank you to anyone who’s checked it out. That character has such a special place in my heart. He’s such a sweetheart, and he goes through so much, but he does it for love. I have ideas [for a sequel]; we all have ideas. So knock on wood and pray to the movie Gods that it happens. I would absolutely love that. 

I totally thought the movie was going to end with blood pouring down Nate’s chin, as if he just bit his tongue, something he feared in the first act’s pie-eating scene. I assumed it was going to be the payoff to that setup. But Dan Berk and Bobby Olsen both told me that they preferred a more earnest ending that doesn’t risk making fun of Nate’s condition.

Yeah, I’m kind of with them. I like that Nate got such a win at the end of that movie. I love that it ends with him smiling and enjoying a piece of cherry pie and just enjoying his life. He’s been through so much, and he gets a real win at the end of that movie. That sequence was so cool because the ending song is Telekinesis’ “Power Lines.” I first heard it a long time ago, and I always thought that it would go perfectly in that moment. 

This is kind of the opposite of what I was just talking about with the Beastie Boys. But I played “Power Lines” off my iPhone speakers to Dan and Bobby in that moment, and I was like, “This could go really well here, right?” And they were like, “Holy shit. Let’s see if we can get the rights to this.” Then they made a couple calls, and a couple hours later, they were like, “We have the rights.” I’ve never done that before, and I probably never will again. 

So the movie ends in the exact way that I envisioned to that song and with the camera slowly pushing in on my face. I was also really happy that no blood came out of my mouth, and I think it would’ve taken a little bit of joy away from Nate. But thank you for seeing the movie, man. I really appreciate it.

How close are you to wrapping The Boys’ final season? (Note: This interview took place on June 22.)

Pretty close. It’s a huge show with so many characters, and it’s so chaotic, but people, one by one, are starting to wrap out. I still have about six shooting days to go, and it’s just getting more and more surreal that I’m going to have to start saying goodbye to Hughie Campbell. It’s emotional. It’s bittersweet. This show has done everything for me. I love it. I love the people. I’m going to miss everyone so much, and it’s going to be weird [without it]. 

But I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished this season. I think it’s a great finale, which is a hard thing to do in TV. I’m happy that [creator] Eric Kripke got to make the ending he intended, and he did a great job. So I’m excited for you guys to see it.

Do people from the more conventional superhero stuff ever reach out to say that they wish they could do the risqué things that guys do on a regular basis? 

Maybe they do to Eric and the writers, but I’m always just surprised when anyone from superhero media knows who we are. We were always this different underdog universe. I remember meeting Tom Holland very briefly at a party once, and he was like, “Oh, The Boys.” And I was like, “There’s no way that Spider-Man knows who I am. That’s crazy.” 

I always thought that my biggest dream was to be in a Marvel movie or a DC movie, and it still very much is. But never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be on the ground floor of a superhero universe that is entirely its own thing. It has its own very specific tone where we get to satirize the world around us in the most cathartic way every season, and I’m just so unbelievably grateful for it all.

Besides Antony and Erin Moriarty, is everybody making their case to EPs Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg for a Studio season two cameo? 

Oh, man, that’d be sick. I love that show, and it’d be awesome. It was great that [Erin and Antony] showed up in it. But I’ll do that right now. I’ll start making my case. Please have me on! It’s a great show. Those guys are amazing. They’re heroes of mine.

[This next question/answer contains spoilers for Predator: Killer of Killers.]

Dan Trachtenberg directed you in The Boys’ pilot, and he also directed Amber Midthunder in Prey. And he was the one who recommended the two of you work together en route to Novocaine. Thus, have you seen the end of his latest animated movie, Predator: Killer of Killers?

I just watched Predator: Killer of Killers, and it’s so good. I love that ending. Amber’s character from Prey makes an appearance, and I got very, very excited. She absolutely nailed it in Prey, and I am so happy to know her and to know Dan. During Novocaine, Amber quickly became one of my better friends, and we still text all the time. She’s just such a badass. So I was excited as a fan of Dan’s, as a fan of Amber’s and as of animation. I love that movie. Go check it out. It’s so unbelievably good.

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Heads of State is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.