Daveed Diggs Says He Watched ‘Many Hours’ of Televangelists to Prepare for “The Boys” Role (Exclusive)

Sabienna BowmanMon, May 18, 2026 at 5:37 PM UTC

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Daveed Diggs on 'The Boys'
Credit: Courtesy of Prime -

Daveed Diggs joined The Boys season 5 as Oh Father, a charismatic pastor who preaches Homelander is God

Diggs studied televangelists to understand their charisma and found their performances compelling despite not being religious himself

He collaborated on Oh Father’s costume design, which included unique details like rings and a crucifix tooth gem

Daveed Diggs did his research to get Oh Father's charismatic sermons just right.

Diggs, 44, joined The Boys in its fifth and final season as Oh Father, also known as Aaron, a church leader who is happy to preach that Homelander is God himself as long as it means more money for the church — and him. Ahead of the series finale, the Snowpiercer alum tells PEOPLE how he found his character's voice, as well as how it felt to join the hit Prime Video series as a longtime fan of the show.

When asked if he watched any real life televangelists when he landed his role, Diggs says, "I watched a lot, many hours of, like, a whole bunch of different ones just to… Not to take anything from anyone in particular, but more just trying to understand the level of charisma necessary, you know?"

Daveed Diggs on 'The Boys'
Credit: Courtesy of Prime

After all, Oh Father has to have his own charisma in order to sway followers not only to hand over their money to the Vought-sponsored megachurch Democratic Church of America, but also to buy into the idea that Homelander is God. For Diggs, that meant diving into the world of televangelism to see what makes the religious leaders tick.

"I mean, they're doing a really impressive thing, and I found a lot of the work actually, like, really compelling, you know?" he continues. "And as someone who's not a religious person, I found myself really watching this stuff, because the performances are wonderful. And honest, when they are honest, you know, heart, passion, ecstasy, like, sadness, tragedy, like, it's kind of wonderful to watch."

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While season 5 has included the deaths of several characters, including A-Train (Jesse T. Usher), Firecracker (Valorie Curry) and Frenchie (Tomer Capone), Oh Father is still alive heading into the series finale. Diggs shares that being part of the show's final chapter has been a fun ride, especially since he was a fan of the show. In fact, he says his initial reaction to being asked to join The Boys was, "Why? You're doing great. Why do you want me on your [show]?"

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"It was very cool that they asked me to be a part of it," he says, adding, "It made me nervous because you don't wanna... as a fan of something, you don't want to go outside... They've created such a specific world, so I was really hopeful that the character I was creating would fit into the world. I did a lot of work on it, a lot of, like, sort of, you know figuring out how and where to pitch it, but, like, as we kept going, we kept… to me, like ... it actually turns out the container they built for the show is so smart that it can hold a whole lot."

That includes a slippery pastor who loves showmanship almost as much as he loves spending money. In the penultimate episode, "The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother's Milk," the Tony winner got to belt out a song on-screen, but Oh Father has been showing off his theatrical side all season long thanks to his white, purple and gold super suit.

Daveed Diggs on 'The Boys'
Credit: Darren Goldstein/Prime Video

Diggs laughs, "I was the beneficiary of five seasons of R&D on these super suits, so I think I probably had the most comfortable suit of anybody."

The suit also allowed Diggs and the show to flesh out Oh Father's personality even more. "It was wonderful to wear," he says of his character's signature look. "It immediately, like, puts you into who you are. It's such a cool character thing, and they also, you know, it's a pain in the ass to get in and out of, but other than that it was fun."

He continues, "It was such a collaborative process to build it, too. I mean, obviously, like, their design was their design, but the things, like could we have rings on every finger? Like, is that too big? Like, what about this crucifix tooth gem that we'll almost never see? Could that be part of it? Absolutely."

While the stakes couldn't be higher heading into the final episode, Diggs is just happy he got to go along for the ride. "Everybody in the cast was so welcoming when I showed up," he says. "It was really, like, kind of a scary thing to show up senior year as a, you know what I'm saying? Transfer to the school senior year, whatever, but everyone was really welcoming."

The Boys series finale premieres Wednesday, May 20 on Prime Video.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”