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‘The Boys': Shawn Ashmore on Why Lamplighter Makes His Big Vought vs. Boys Choice

Plus: Ashmore tells TheWrap about Lamplighter’s “accident”

| September 25, 2020 @ 6:00 PM
The Boys Lamplighter

Amazon Prime Video

(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Episode 206 of “The Boys,” titled “The Bloody Doors Off.”)

This week’s episode of “The Boys” Season 2 gave us the long-awaited flashback to what happened between Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore) and Frenchie (Tomer Kapon), Butcher (Karl Urban), M.M. (Laz Alonso), and Colonel Mallory (Laila Robins), when the former member of the supe super-group The Seven backed out of his forced deal to help them and killed Mallory’s grandchildren.

It turns out that Lamplighter never intended to burn those kids to a crisp; he thought he was killing Mallory and didn’t realize the mistake until it was too late. In the present, we learn that Lamplighter actually feels crushing remorse for the murders, giving him something in common with Frenchie, who blames himself for not being there to prevent them because he briefly ducked out of surveillance duty to help a friend who had overdosed that night.

During present day in Episode 6, Frenchie, M.M. and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) go to Sage Grove hospital to figure out what Stormfront (Aya Cash) is hiding there and find Lamplighter working as a member of her staff who is experimenting on people whose injections with Compound V took a bad turn. By the end of the hour, Lamplighter has decided to abandon Stormfront and her secret mission for Vought and leave with The Boys. So why does he make that choice?

Also Read: 'The Boys' Actor Shawn Ashmore Tells Us Who Would Win a Fight Between Iceman and Lamplighter

“I think that Lamplighter, since he’s been kicked out of the Seven and he’s not protected by Vought and he’s not famous anymore, he’s not all of these things, I think that he’s finally had to look at what he has done. Most specifically about Mallory’s grandkids,” Ashmore told TheWrap. “And we know that from Season 1 that he’s like the villain to The Boys. He murdered these kids. And then we realize, spoiler alert, that it was an accident. He’s not a good guy, he’s a bad person — but he’s not a villain. I never thought of him as being really evil. He’s a human being, like all the Supes are, who have been given these abilities that nobody really can handle and been lifted up to these levels of fame that are ridiculous. And we see what happens to normal people in our society that get that, most people can’t handle it and freak out. So imagine that you have all these abilities as well.”

“I think that now that he’s out of the limelight and has been rejected and his identity is gone as Lamplighter, the guy in costume who is powerful and successful and famous, he now has to look at all the stuff he’s done and realize he’s being used by Vought,” Ashmore added. “So I think in a way, it’s almost as if he’s looking for an opportunity out and never in his wildest dreams would he assume that Frenchie and M.M. and everybody shows up at Sage Grove and he has to become allies with them.”

Also Read: 'The Boys' Boss on Connecting Stormfront From Amazon Series to Comics With 'Horrific' Reveal

Once he leaves with The Boys, Mallory comes to find them and points a gun at Lamplighter’s head. She’s about to kill him, which is what he admits he wants and deserves, when Frenchie convinces her not to and that there is some way he could be useful to their efforts to take down Vought.

“I think he’s looking for an out, and at the end of the episode, he’s asking Mallory to kill him,” Ashmore says. “He gives her the OK to do that. He’s like, I know what needs to be done, I understand, you should do this. He’s not begging for his life, he’s begging to be put out of his misery. So, again, I think he’s reluctantly helping The Boys, but he’s looking for a way out and it presents itself and he goes along with it.”

A new episode of “The Boys” Season 2 launches next Friday on Amazon Prime Video.

Fall TV 2020: All the Premiere Dates for New and Returning Shows - So Far (Photos)

  • fall premiere dates 2020 Fox/ABC/Amazon/FX
  • Teen Mom 2 MTV
  • 16 and Recovering - MTV MTV
  • Transplant - Season 1 NBC
  • House of Payne BET
  • Assisted Living BET
  • AP Bio Season 3 Peacock
  • HBO Max
  • Away Hilary Swank Netflix
  • Noughts and Crosses Peacock
  • Stormfront Aya Cash The Boys Season 2 Amazon Prime Video
  • Viola Davis and husband OWN
  • Method Man in Power Book II: Ghost Starz
  • American Ninja Warrior - season 11 NBC
  • LA's Finest - Season 1 - Episode 101 Spectrum Originals
  • Woke Lamorne Morris Hulu
  • Madison Reyes in "Julie and the Phantoms" on Netflix Netflix
  • The Duchess Netflix
  • our cartoon president trump colbert showtime Showtime
  • Dancing With the Stars ABC
  • The Third Day Katherine Waterston HBO
  • We Are Who We Are HBO
  • Enslaved Epix
  • Comedy Central
  • Challenger_ Final Flight Netflix
  • FXX
  • Departure - Season 1 Peacock
  • The Great Pottery Throw Down HBO Max
  • Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous Hulu
  • Pen15 Hulu
  • Ratched Sarah Paulson Netflix
  • Worlds Funniest Animals The CW
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  • Rainn Wilson Utopia Amazon
  • A Wilderness of Error FX
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  • Fargo Year 4 - Chris Rock FX
  • The Weakest Link - Season 1 NBC
  • Gangs of London AMC
  • Salisbury Poisonings AMC
  • Monsterland Getty
  • Emily in Paris Netflix
  • Undercover Boss CBS
  • Warrior
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  • Pandora
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  • britannia Epix
  • The Walking Dead World Beyond AMC
  • Soulmates AMC
  • Swamp Thing DC Universe
  • Ellen's Game of Games - Season 2 NBC
  • NEXT Fox
  • Devils Patrick Dempsey The CW
  • Coroner The CW
  • Supernatural The CW
  • Connecting - Season 1 NBC
  • CW - The Outpost The CW
  • Disney+
  • Haunting of Bly Manor Netflix
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  • The Amazing Race CBS
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  • Star Trek Discovery Season 3 CBS All Access
  • Helstrom Hulu Comic-Con at Home San Diego Comic-Con Trailer Hulu
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  • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ABC
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  • Unsolved Mysteries Netflix
  • The Voice NBC
  • The Goldbergs ABC
  • The Conners ABC
  • Blackish ABC
  • Queens Gambit Netflix
  • The Undoing HBO
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  • American Housewife ABC
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  • Mandalorian Disney+
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  • Young Sheldon CBS
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  • NCIS New Orleans CBS
  • A Teacher Kate Mara FX on Hulu
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  • Chicago Fire - Season 7 NBC
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  • Chicago P.D. - Season 6 NBC
  • Station 19 ABC
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Season 21 NBC
  • ELLEN POMPEO Greys Anatomy ABC
  • The Unicorn CBS
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  • Bob Hearts Abishola CBS
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  • His Dark Materials HBO
  • Bull cbs CBS
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  • FBI - "Emotional Rescue" CBS
  • FBI Most Wanted CBS
  • Kylie Bunbury Big Sky ABC
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1 of 125

Here’s when 125 broadcast, cable and streaming series debut and come back

Fall is in full swing, but not much has changed since this summer with many people still staying at home as much as possible to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Luckily, dozens of new and returning shows are premiering this autumn to keep you company. TheWrap has rounded up all the dates we know -- so far -- for Fall TV shows' debuts. We will continue to update the list as more become available.

For the purposes of this gallery, we've designated Sept. 1 as the beginning of fall rather than the official Sept. 22 start, since "Fall TV" is sure to be more loosely defined this year.

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