(Warning: Spoiler’s for Amazon’s The Boys TV series will be found below.)
Chace Crawford may never escape the association of his name with Gossip Girl, but to be fair, filming 121 episodes of any series would leave a lasting impact. Crawford has worked relatively steadily since the show ended in 2012, but he’s finally got another breakout role in Amazon’s The Boys. In the wickedly enjoyable and incredibly graphic show, he plays The Deep, a superhero who’s a lot like Aquaman, only he’s a really terrible person. Now, he’s addressing the superhero role that got away from him because of Gossip Girl.
While fielding a question on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, the former teen idol addressed reports that he was up for the role that Chris Evans originated in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. According to Crawford, Marvel Studios even had a suit ready for him to wear during a screen test, but then his television shooting schedule reared its head:
“I did have a screen test for that back in the day but they actually didn’t let me do it because they realized I was on a show in New York for nine months of the year. I got a screen test deal. A buddy of mine told me he went in there and they had a suit made with my name on it, the whole thing. Yeah after nine films I’m thinking, ‘Man, I would’ve loved a shot at that.'”
In other words, this was at least partially a scheduling tragedy, but it’s also difficult to envision anyone besides Evans playing the existentially conflicted Cap. Before Crawford’s clarification, though, it’s easy to imagine that a Gossip Girl-associated stigma may have been attached to him not securing the role, but that can easily be disproven by remembering that Chris Evans wore a whipped cream bikini in Not Another Teen Movie long before he became Cap. So many teen idols, man. Crawford also recently addressed the Captain America topic while speaking with Vulture and admitting that The Deep is the “f*ckboy” of The Boys. Can confirm that he’s not wrong.
You can watch the relevant segment of Watch What Happens Live (Chace’s Cap question comes after the Angela Bassett part) below.