The showrunner of The Boys has disclosed the unexpected reason why Dominique McElligott's Queen Maeve did not appear in the series finale, confirming it was not due to a lack of effort to include her.
McElligott, 40, featured in the first three seasons of the Amazon superhero drama as the feminist hero who survives an explosion but fakes her own death to escape Vought, the corrupt superhero conglomerate, and its leader Homelander, portrayed by Antony Starr.
Queen Maeve's screen time diminished after 2022, sparking speculation about her departure. Now, following McElligott's absence from the show's conclusion, creator Eric Kripke revealed he had been open to her return for the finale, but the Irish actor informed him she had retired from acting.
Communication Between Kripke and McElligott
“Dom and I email a couple of times every six to eight months or so, and she checked in on me after the Palisades fires,” Kripke told TV Insider in an interview published Wednesday.
“We throw each other emails, and I said very early because I wanted to know whether we were building for it, ‘Would you be open to coming back for a day? And here are the dates.’”
He added: “It was very pleasant and respectful. She just said, 'I've kind of retired from acting. [I'm not] really acting anymore, and I’m busy those dates anyway.'”
No Hard Feelings Involved
Kripke emphasised that there were no hard feelings surrounding the decision. “So, that was honestly it. It was a very pleasant, non-controversial moment, you know?” he said.
McElligott did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
The Boys is the most recent project listed on McElligott’s IMDb page. Prior to her role in the superhero series, she appeared in other television shows including House of Cards and The Astronaut Wives Club.
Homage to Queen Maeve in the Finale
Although McElligott has not appeared in The Boys since the third season finale, her character was referenced in recap clips and mentioned throughout the end of the show.
“We wanted to pay homage to her; she's an important character, and so she shows up in the recap and in a way to show that Maeve passed the torch to Annie [the superhero Starlight, played by Erin Moriarty], and now Annie is passing the torch to Marie, and that there's this lineage of strong women that started with Maeve,” Kripke explained.
“We wanted to bring up Maeve’s spirit if we couldn’t actually bring her up in person.”
