Gen V Star Opens Up About Playing Gender-Changing Supe Jordan Li

Gen V debuts on Prime VIdeo September 29th.

By Nicole Drum

The Boys spinoff Gen V is coming to Prime Video later this month, sending viewers to school at the Godolkin University School of Crimefighting where the series will introduce a group of young, aspirational heroes competing for the school's coveted top ranking. That means there are new supes coming to The Boys universe thanks to the series, including one with what might be one of the more unique powers we've seen to date: Jordan Li, the number two ranked student at God U has the ability to shift between male and female forms. On screen, the character is portrayed by two different actors — Derek Luh who plays Jordan as a male who is dense and indestructible, and London Thor who plays Jordan as a female, who is more agile and can blast fire from their hands.

With Jordan being, quite literally, a dual character, it makes things a bit more interesting to portray, but Thor told Entertainment Weekly that it's actually been easy sharing the character with Luh as the "built this character from the ground up".

"It's been really easy sharing a character with Derek," Thor said. "When we first met, it was kind of an immediate click — we both had similar thoughts. We both were open to talking about the character and open to each other's opinions. We built this character from the ground up. Luckily, I don't know how, maybe just the fact that we've been stranded in Toronto [filming] for four months together, we managed to take on each other's personalities sometimes. Our characteristics are pretty similar. It's been great having a partner like that."

What Is Gen V About?

From the world of The Boys comes Gen V. Young, aspiring heroes have their physical and moral boundaries put to the test while competing for Godolkin University's highly coveted top ranking. When the university's dark secrets come to light, the students must come to grips with what type of heroes they are going to become. The cast of the series also includes Lizze Broadway, Jaz Sinclair, Chance Perdomo, Maddie Phillips, London Thor, Derek Luh, Asa Germann, and Shelley Conn.

"In general, if you're making an R-rated thing, they let you do whatever the f-ck you want, unless there's some real legal thing that they think you might be bumping against," producer Seth Rogen explained in an interview earlier this year. "With The Boys, maybe it requires one extra five-minutes phone call, where they're like, 'Really?', and you're like, 'Really.' There are other things you're on hours of phone calls about that are so much less interesting than that."

Will Gen V Connect to The Boys?

According to Vernon Sanderes, Head of Television at Amazon Studios, Gen V definitely connects to The Boys as well as has some Easter eggs as well.

"The young ensemble [is] fantastic," Sanders revealed. "We have connections to The Boys universe and cast sort of peppered carefully throughout the season. So, there are lots of Easter eggs that I think fans will love. And it's a great combination of social commentary, blood, there's lots of blood, a really cool mystery. And I think people will be surprised as they come into the show, and the show evolves, the implications that Gen V has on The Boys. The two shows have some really interesting connections. So, I'm probably saying more than I should, but I'm really excited. We're thrilled with the results."

The Boys producer Seth Rogen previously teased that the look and feel of Gen V will most certainly echo that of the show it's based on.

"Gen V has some really crazy shit in it. The fact that they're in college, they're a little younger, makes it more shocking maybe," Rogen said. 

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"In general, if you're making an R-rated thing, they let you do whatever the fuck you want, unless there's some real legal thing that they think you might be bumping against," Rogen added. "With The Boys, maybe it requires one extra five-minutes phone call, where they're like, 'Really?', and you're like, 'Really.' There are other things you're on hours of phone calls about that are so much less interesting than that."

The first three seasons of The Boys, along with its animated spinoff Diabolical, are now streaming on Amazon Prime video. Gen V will premiere on September 29th.

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