‘The Boys’ Cast Reveals Nathan Mitchell, Black Noir Actor, Is Narcoleptic in Real Life

‘The Boys’ remains one of the world’s most popular superhero series, with its fourth season debuting on June 13, 2024, releasing its first three episodes. The initial reception was lukewarm, but the series has since gained momentum, achieving Certified Fresh status with strong ratings.

This season has been marked by numerous captivating and unexpected events, many of which we’ve covered in our weekly reviews. One character who merits more attention is Black Noir, whose pivotal role and intriguing resurrection have added significant depth to the storyline.

You may have observed that the “new” Black Noir now has narcolepsy, and the cast of ‘The Boys’ have shared the intriguing real-life backstory behind this development—how the actor portraying the new Black Noir actually became narcoleptic.

In the original iteration of Black Noir, his significant biological weakness was a tree nut allergy. However, upon his return in Season 4 after death, portrayed once again by Nathan Mitchell, the character now has a completely different vulnerability. In this new iteration, Black Noir II suffers from narcolepsy, as revealed in Season 4.

Up until now, the reason behind Black Noir II’s narcolepsy remained a mystery. However, during a recent extensive interview on the Happy Sad Confused show with Josh Horowitz, cast members disclosed the amusing and enlightening real-life story behind this creative choice. Here’s what we learned:

JH: I think I know the answer to this. Most likely to complain about their costume? Anthony?

AS: Oh, come on! Nathan! He’s…

CC: Oh yeah, you’re right. Nathan. Nathan.

AS: Nathan complains on, like…

CC: You’re right…

AS: On an hourly basis. ‘I can’t move.’ It’s like… you’re not… you don’t talk. Shhh.

CC: You also can’t see out of the face.

AS: Life imitating, ah… shh, shh…

CC: We’ll be… we’ll be in scenes, and he’s literally asleep, he’ll fall asleep during…

AS: He actually… legit falls asleep. And there there there’s a line, in that… ‘Is Noir asleep?’, and he wakes and goes ‘I’m narcoleptic.’

CC: Which he really is.

AS: Cuz’ he fucking is in real life. He’s fallen asleep. At the table. In that suit. In real life. Nathan is a… almost narcoleptic.

Source: YouTube

The backstory is surprisingly humorous. Contrary to mere speculation, it was actually Nathan Mitchell’s off-camera antics that inspired the writers to incorporate narcolepsy into Black Noir’s character, making for a fascinating anecdote from the set of the series. The actor himself confirmed this in an interview with TV Insider.

This new version of Noir is narcoleptic. Am I right in believing this is a character trait pulled from your own life?

Yeah, it is. It’s funny because [when I] talk to my friends who are now seeing the season, they’ll laugh with me and they’re like, “Yeah, I remember when we were in high school and you’d come to parties and just nap on the couch.” So it’s something I’ve been doing my entire life just taking little naps here and there.

And I even forget these things. So when my friends tell me these stories, I’m like, “Oh yeah, that really is me.” The writers are so great. They see us and take unique parts of our personality and they insert them into the roles in really fun, creative ways. It’s a cool character trait that I’m glad we get to explore.

Source: TV Insider

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