‘The Boys’ Star Nathan Mitchell Says He Approached Playing “New Noir” From An “Everyman Perspective”: “He’s Just A Dude”

Nathan Mitchell has been hiding in plain sight all along.

While some may recognize him from Ginny & Georgia , Mitchell has been behind a mask this entire time on The Boys as Black Noir, a lethal and mute superhero who is rarely seen without his mask. The longtime actor signed onto the Prime Video series in Season 1 knowing his role would be a purely physical performance, but Mitchell tells DECIDER over Zoom that he was “excited” to learn Season 4 would be a very different experience.

“What if an everyday person was thrown into the world of The Seven and forced to have corrupt morals and be on this insane ride where we’re killing people out of nowhere?” Mitchell told us. “I think it’s fun to kind of approach it from an everyman perspective.”

The Black Noir we meet in Season 4 is not the same mysterious figure who practically haunted Vought in previous seasons. Homelander ( Antony Starr ) killed Black Noir in Season 3 after he learned Noir secretly knew Soldier Boy was his father all along. Rather than properly mourn the late superhero, Vought and The Seven surreptitiously cast an actor to fill Black Noir’s role, coldly assuming that the supe could be easily replaced. But the new guy is in way over his head.

What results is a hilarious and delightfully surprising performance from Mitchell as he adopts a new approach this season. Eventually, with some creative direction and a much-needed pep talk from Chace Crawford ‘s The Deep, Noir ultimately settles into the morally corrupt character The Seven requires him to play.

We caught up with the actor to talk about what’s driving “new Noir,” his character’s new bromance with The Deep, and whether or not the rumors about him falling asleep during takes are true.

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DECIDER: What was your understanding of Black Noir going into this season, and what is it that you’re trying to convey with your performance?

NATHAN MITCHELL: He’s an actor who got the opportunity to be in The Seven. He’s been trying to make moves through his career, and he wasn’t at the heights he’d wish to be at this point in life, but he is where he is, and all of a sudden he gets an opportunity that’s like a dream opportunity – but not what he expected.

But when we’re talking about Noir, new Noir taking the place of old Noir, there are a couple ways I was thinking about approaching it. He could be this method actor, but if he was method, he would just be kind of completely the same, right? And there’s a fun way to do that, too. But one thing that appealed to me just in reading the script, it was treating him like a regular guy. What if an everyday person was thrown into the world of The Seven and forced to have corrupt morals and be on this insane ride where we’re killing people out of nowhere? I think it’s fun to kind of approach it from an everyman perspective. He’s an actor, he’s also just a dude and a bro who’s making some friends along the way, and trying to wrap his head around this reality.

What was your reaction to getting speaking lines this season? Did you know this was going to happen down the line?

When I got the role, I was told that Noir would not speak and we’d never see his face. So I embraced that and I committed to the character with that in mind. Then I found out that Noir was gonna die, and that we were gonna bring me back in a new, fun way. But even then, I didn’t really ask for specifics… I don’t remember knowing that much of what was going to happen until we got to Season 4, and I started reading the scripts, I was so excited.

One thing that’s been a lot of fun to watch this season is Black Noir’s bizarre bromance with The Deep. Can you tell me how you feel about that?

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I love it. It was not something I was expecting initially because he did reach out to [Vought CEO] Ashley [Barrett] for advice. And then I was surprised to find out that it was Deep who’s going to give him the heart to heart and what he needed. And personally, I love working with Chace, I love watching his work as The Deep and I think all of his choices are so funny and specific and cool. I was super excited when I found out that I’d have these scenes with him. Our friendship outside of the show, there’s a lot of camaraderie there, and I think you get to see that in the characters — our friendship and our connection, just like bleeding into the roles as two buddies who are just hanging out, but also trying to figure out this world that they’re in.

I know your character is narcoleptic, but Chace Crawford recently mentioned that you actually do fall asleep while filming scenes. Is that true at all?

What I’ll say is this, it’s like when you are in a big suit like that, and you have like a balaclava over your face, and you have this huge helmet on, which kind of sometimes you can’t see everyone 100%, you feel like you’re in your own world… So feeling so separate, but also in this cozy, big suit, with my disposition to taking naps anyway, sometimes it has happened on occasion. But the thing about my naps is, as easy as it is to fall into them, I can also get it together very quickly.

What was your experience like on set beforehand, even when you were fully committed to doing this silent, almost faceless character?

It’s been great. I love it so much. We’re such a family. It’s just a great time, we’ve had four seasons together, but we’ve also had years in between that. When I’m with them, it’s like hanging out with my family.

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Is there anything you can share about Season 5?

I mean, I can’t say anything about Season 5, but Season 4 we’re going to a place where we’ve never been. By the end of the season, it’s pretty gut wrenching. We get to a gut wrenching place where the stakes are high and we’re really kind of wondering how they’re going to pull this off, which makes an exciting kind of a wait between Season 4 and 5 to see how it all ends.

Is there any chance that we’ll one day get to see Noir in Gen V ?

I would love it. I haven’t heard about that happening yet, but I think it’s a great idea. And so if it happened, I’d be very open to it.

I saw on your Instagram that you’re a Sagittarius and that you described yourself as an “astrological savant.” Would you be able to give a zodiac sign for each of The Seven?

I think we did that in like, Season 3 as a BTS clip. I think I did, like the sun and moon signs, like Homelander’s got some Scorpio in them, definitely. I think The Deep has Leo.

A Train, Sagittarius, just because [he’s] covering the distances, like his vibe. Sage [is an] Aquarius, yeah, Aquarius. What I like to say about Aquarius is [they] love humanity, people? Not so much. And [they’re] very intelligent. Let me give Gemini to Firecracker.

New Noir, I guess you’d have to go obviously Leo, you know, the desire to perform.

New episodes of The Boys air Thursdays on Amazon Prime.

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