The Boys season 4, episode 7, director Catriona McKenzie explains how the real Starlight can be identified after that big Supe reveal. Prime Video’s hit superhero satire returned for season 4 last month, continuing Billy Butcher’s (Karl Urban) quest against Vought and Homelander (Antony Starr). The Boys season 4, episode 7, introduces a new, shape-shifting Supe into the equation as the titular group investigates the plot to kill President Singer (Jim Beaver). The episode ends with the surprise reveal that this new character has taken the form of Starlight, with the real Annie held hostage in a mysterious location.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, McKenzie reveals that there are some subtle signs audiences can look for to identify the impostor Starlight, who she dubs “the Shifter.” According to the director, the impostor Starlight moves a little more robotically than the real one. Check out McKenzie’s comments below:

Erin’s so amazing. We talked about her physicality, we talked about her eyes, and we talked about a stillness because the Shifter doesn’t have the same kind of emotional, intuitive, emotional intelligence that Annie does. And we’ve seen that in the episode; there was just a stillness that she brought to her performance where she’s just a bit more robotic. It was fun working that up with her.

And she’s a natural. Basically, everything’s the opposite of what she’s developed, and she just moved away from her instincts. I think, as a director, it’s more and more about the subtleties of working with actors and working on characters that I find brings such pleasure. The minutia of performative detail is where I think is the goal is, and I love that moment when she gets out of bed and walks past Huey. She walks over to the safe, and you just know we’re in for a ride.

The Shifter Creates A Major Problem For Butcher’s Team In The Boys Season 4 Finale

How It Could Set Up A More Dangerous Season 5

The Boys’ mission to stop the assassination of President Singer was already shaping up to be a major challenge, but the introduction of the Shifter means they’ll have no idea who to actually look for. Using her powers, the assassin can easily avoid security and get as close as she needs in order to accomplish the deed. While the Shifter’s powers can be used to get close to the president, they can also, crucially, be used to pin the blame on others in The Boys‘ cast of characters.

The end of The Boys season 4, episode 7, teases that the Shifter will be pinning the blame for the assassination directly on Starlight. The war between those who support Starlight and her ideals and those who support Homelander has been a major part of season 4 thus far, and pinning the assassination of the president on Starlight’s camp would be an incredibly effective way of vilifying them. Homelander’s opposition from regular American citizens would essentially disappear.

If the plot to assassinate the president works, it sets up a very intense story in The Boys season 5, which is confirmed to be the show’s last. Butcher, Hughie (Jack Quaid), M.M. (Laz Alonso), and the rest of the team could potentially be implicated in the assassination as well, making all of them the most wanted people in America, and making it a lot easier for Homelander to justify killing them. It remains to be seen how events will play in The Boys‘ season 4 finale, but the Shifter evidently makes things a lot more complicated.

New episodes of The Boys season 4 release on Thursdays on Prime Video.