Susan Heyward and Valorie Curry in “The Boys” Season 4.
PRIME VIDEO/JASPER SAVAGE
The Boys Season 4 introduces two new members of The Seven—Sister Sage and Firecracker. Why do the stars who play them look so familiar?
Season 3 of showrunner Eric Kripke’s superhero satire saw the exit of Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and Margaret Shaw/Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) from The Seven, as well as Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell)—who was murdered by Homelander (Antony Starr).
While Mitchell returns to technically play a new member of The Seven as Black Noir II (the actor wears the same outfit but talks), Susan Heyward and Valorie Curry have emerged to become two key characters in Season 4 of The Boys as Sister Sage and Firecracker, respectively.
In Episode 1, Homelander handpicked Sister Sage because her superpower is her brain—she’s the smartest person in the world. Sister Sage, in turn, declares that the reason the restless Homelander wants her in The Seven is because “he’s tired of being surrounded by morons.”
Sister Sage puts her brain power to use when she travels to Truth Con in Episode 2 to vet Firecracker—a bible-thumping, homophobic and racist conspiracy theorist who has developed a following because of her YouTube show The Truth Bomb. Firecracker is picked to become part of The Seven even though her superpower seems limited—at least so far—since she can only emit small, firecracker-like explosions from her hands.
Since Episode 2, both Sister Sage and Firecracker—who is formerly known as Sparkler—have become central to the plot of The Boys Season 4. Meanwhile, the resistance group known as The Boys continues to pursue a way to bring down Homelander and ultimately, Vought International.
Here’s a look at the career paths of Heyward and Curry before they joined The Boys.
Susan Heyward in “The Boys” Season 4.
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Heyward’s Credits Include ‘Orange Is The New Black’
Born November 19, 1982, in Atlanta, Susan Heyward’s screen career kicked off in 2009 with the recurring role as Lindsey in the Comedy Central sitcom Michael & Michael Have Issues.
After guest turns on NBC’s Law & Order and 30 Rock and ABC’s 666 Park Avenue from 2009-12, Heyward appeared in the recurring role of Hannah in Kevin Bacon’s Fox Network crime drama The Following in 2014.
Heyward’s breakthrough role came in the 2015 superhero drama Powers opposite Sharlto Copley (District 9). In the PlayStation Network series—which ran for 20 episodes over two seasons from 2015-16—Heyward stars as Deanna Pilgrim, Christian Walker’s (Copley) detective partner in the Powers Division of the LA Police Department. The department investigates crimes committed by superhumans.
Danielle Brooks and Susan Heyward in “Orange is the New Black.”
NETFLIX
In 2016, Heyward starred in the 1970s music business drama Vinyl, which ran for one season on HBO. Heyward played Cece Matthews, the personal secretary for America Century Records executive Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale).
Perhaps Heyward’s most high-profile role before The Boys happened came in seasons 6 and 7 of the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Heyward plays prison guard/warden Tamika Ward in the series over 20 episodes from 2016-17. Tamika is also an old friend of inmate Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson (Danielle Brooks) in the Orange is the New Black.
In addition to her television work, Heyward has starred in such films as the 2015 remake of Poltergeist and the 2017 Netflix original movie The Incredible Jessica James.
Valorie Curry in “The Boys” Season 4.
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Curry Has Starred In Such Series As ‘The Following’ And ‘The Tick’
Born February 12, 1986, in Orange County, California, Valorie Curry’s screen debut came in 2005 in the Kristen Bell mystery drama Veronica Mars. Curry played Jane Kuhne—the ex-girlfriend of Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III)—in six episodes of Veronica Mars from 2005-06.
Curry’s breakthrough role came in 2013 when she was cast in a recurring role as Emma Hill, aka Denise Harris, one of the followers of serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) in the Kevin Bacon crime drama The Following.
Curry appeared in 29 episodes of the Fox Network series The Following in Seasons 1 and 2 from 2013-14. Oddly enough, Curry’s future castmate in The Boys—Susan Heyward—also plays one of Joe’s followers in five episodes in The Following in Season 2 of the series in 2014.
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 16: (L-R) Actors Griffin Newman, Peter Serafinowicz and Valorie Curry attend … [+]
GETTY
After The Following, Curry played a computer programmer, Kelsey, in 10 episodes in Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell’s Showtime comedy drama House of Lies from 2015-16.
From 2016-19, Curry starred opposite Peter Serafinowicz and Griffin Newman in Prime Video superhero comedy series The Tick. Curry starred as Dot Everest in the series, while Newman played Griffin Everest and Serafinowicz played The Tick.
All three of the stars appeared in all 22 episodes of The Tick.
Curry’s last television role before The Boys came in the 2021 Peacock TV series The Lost Symbol, which is the adaptation of the Dan Brown book of the same name from his Robert Langdon series.
Curry is featured in all 10 episodes of The Lost Symbol as Katherine Solomon. Katherine is the daughter of Peter Solomon (Eddie Izzard), the mentor of Harvard symbologist Langdon (Ashley Zukerman).
In film, Curry starred as the vampire Charlotte in 2012’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. In 2016, Curry starred in The Blair Witch Project sequel Blair Witch.
