The Boys' Homelander being recast for upcoming game appearance, actor confirms

How a simple “nope” can quickly shake a fandom. The Boys’ actor Anthony Starr, who plays Homelander in the hit Amazon Prime show, will not be reprising his role for the character’s upcoming appearance in Mortal Kombat 1.

When the DLC was announced for MK1, with both playable characters and Kameo Fighters joining an already long list of familiar faces. For those who don’t speak the lingo, Kameo Fighters refer to characters who can be summoned during battle to aid you; think of them as rejects who didn’t make the big names cut, but they’re too beloved not to include.

Could Homelander beat Omni-Man? You decide in the Mortal Kombat 1 Omni-Man reveal!

Now, as we all know, MK1 has received a lot of backlash since its release – while it looked amazing on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, it didn’t look okay on the Switch (massive understatement, it looked incredibly bad). It was so bad fans demanded refunds. Following on from that debacle, there’s then been anger directed at the game once again for a new Fatality that didn’t appear in the store, leaving fans confused, annoyed, and demanding nothing short of a boycott.

After so many issues, and some free updates to remedy said issues, the DLC is a way to hopefully smooth over the cracks in MK1’s fandom, and maybe even its soul. Then Starr made a simple, yet clear, declaration that he won’t be returning to voice Homelander, and the world seemed bleak again. This comes after Starr also revealed he won’t be reprising his role in The Boys’ spin-off Gen V.

Frustratingly, the actor offered no specifics as to why these decisions had been made. While disappointing, it’s worth pointing out that NetherRealm has used actor’s likenesses before rather than using the actual actor to voice a role. The devs did it with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Mortal Kombat 11, so this isn’t unusual for them. That being said, it seems that Starr might not have gotten this memo, judging by his cold response to questions about it.

Mortal Kombat 1 players can expect to see all the new DLC characters in Spring 2024.